Jakarta – Domestic researchers lashed out at the government's plan to impose restrictions on foreign scholars who wish to conduct field studies in the troubled provinces of Papua and Aceh. They said that the restriction impinged on academic freedom.

The Director of the Institute for Economic and Social Research, Education, and Information Imam Ahmad said that such a restriction would only discourage scientists who had good intentions.

But Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirayuda has defended the stringent policy saying many foreign researchers came with goals other than research.