Warren Caragata – Wimar Witoelar, the spokesman for Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, has said that decision-making within the Indonesian government is not quite like turning on a light switch. In other words, there are times – which occur far too often – when you can stand there forever flicking the switch and nothing happens. Connections between the switch and the light are often broken. Other times, the light just refuses to do the bidding of the switch.

Wimar was talking about big decisions, like catching Tommy, fugitive youngest son of former dictator Suharto. But the comment applies equally well to small things. Some of those things I will not really be able to tell you about because, you see, I can't get a press pass that allows me to attend press conferences at the presidential palace.

And believe me, it is not for lack of trying. And Wimar, even though he is the spokesman of the president of the Republic of Indonesia, can't help me, even though he would like to. Hey, it's hard enough for him to get paid. For the first few months after his appointment last fall, he worked for nothing because the palace could not manage to get him on the state payroll.

My problem began in September when I started to get serious about obtaining media accreditation on behalf of Asiaweek. I had applied some months earlier and had never heard back. But in September, I decided to push harder. I sent in all the appropriate letters and documentation and photos and followed up with frequent telephone calls. I waited for the pass to materialize. It didn't. Finally, I got an explanation. It was – well, it was original at least. The palace was going to provide new annual passes at the end of the year and it was too much work to provide a pass that would be valid for only the few months that remained until yearend. No end of arguing could convince them this was a bizarre way to look at things. So, I resolved to wait a few months more. However, not wanting to get caught in the yearend rush, I again sent in an application and all the necessary documentation in mid-November. (Needless to say, all the material had to be re-sent even though it just duplicated what had been sent some weeks before.) When the New Year came, I was told the new passes were not yet ready.

Then, a few weeks ago, came the climax of this sorry tale. Following the parliamentary censure of President Wahid and the beginning of a process of possible impeachment, Wahid held a news conference. I went.

I didn't have a pass, but I figured this would not a problem. No one had passes, as they were not ready yet. And I did have my media pass issued by the Foreign Ministry and all my Indonesian identity papers.

And I figured the palace would be anxious enough to get its side of the story out that these pieces of ID, all with my picture, would suffice.

But as Wimar says, making decisions within the Indonesian government is not like turning on a light switch. I couldn't get in. The passes for 2001 will not be ready until March. Until then, we are supposed to use last year's expired passes. Except, of course, that I don't have one because it would have been too much work in September to issue a card that would have to be replaced in January – no, make that March.

If you think my protestations impressed the palace guards with their logic, you would be mistaken. Several of us were caught in this net, including one person who had an expired pass but didn't carry it because it had expired.

You should know that the nice people at the palace have an answer to this dilemma. They say that when there is a news conference, I can go to the press office, which is in a separate building, and apply for a temporary pass that will get me into the news conference. Now all I have to do it convince the palace to call its news conferences with more than the customary 30 minutes' notice so that I have time to go to the press office, apply for a temporary pass that will replace the 2001 pass that is not yet issued and that will replace the 2000 pass that they didn't issue because it was too much bother, and then get over to the news conference before it ends. Fat chance.

No wonder they can't catch Tommy.