Agus Triyono, Rizy Amelia & Fidelis E. Satriastanti – Days after immigration officials courted criticism for denying entry to a top Greenpeace representative, a similar attempt on Sunday to block his colleague fell spectacularly short.
Andy Tait, a forest campaigner with Greenpeace UK, arrived at East Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma air base on Sunday had to be allowed through the immigration checkpoint despite an entry ban having been issued for him. Nur Hidayati, Greenpeace's country representative for Indonesia, said the ban failed because of flaws in the letter ordering it.
"The immigration officials wanted to take him into detention, but they couldn't because the letter was full of mistakes," she said at the airport, where she met with Tait.
Among the mistakes were errors in Tait's name, passport number and date of birth. In addition, the letter did not have his photograph as required. "This clearly shows that they didn't even know who they were trying to stop. They were just making it up as they went along and were trying to entrap him," Nur said.
When they allowed Tait through, she said, immigration officials made him leave his passport with them. "How strange was that?" Nur said. "We believe they did this so they can now issue a new entry ban and deportation order."
The incident came days after John Sauven, the Greenpeace UK director, was turned back at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport by immigration officials on Thursday despite having a valid visa to enter. The government has since said his presence posed a threat of "instability and disorder" to the country, but it did not elaborate.
Immigration office spokesman Maryoto denied on Sunday that an entry ban had been issued for Tait, saying that as far as he knew, Sauven was the only Greenpeace representative banned.
Critics have linked the government's actions to an ongoing campaign of hostility against the environmental organization by hard-line groups and businesses.
Jimly Asshiddiqie, the former chief justice of the Constitutional Court, said the smear campaign against foreign nongovernmental organizations highlighted the low level of appreciation for efforts by civil society groups to address environmental concerns.
"Many of these groups are misunderstood, including Greenpeace, which is now being treated as a public enemy," he said during a speech to mark the 31st anniversary of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi).
"Around the world, national leaders are busy tackling the issue of environmental degradation and climate change because of its impact on humanity. Here, we're too preoccupied with politics, corruption and law enforcement. Yet we stand to be hit the hardest by climate change."