Emergency Preparedness

Built with oil money, Indonesia's capital is now a high tech city complete with huge hotels, modern hospitals and one of the biggest airports in the world. It rivals any modern city in the world with the splendor of its architecture. The city extends for 1600 square kilometers and has over 4.7 million inhabitants. The name Riyadh is derived from the Arabic word "rawdah" meaning a place of gardens and trees.

Vigilance and avoiding obvious targets

Since the Bali bombing in October 2002, most embassies are advising expatriates to try to avoid (if possible) places with a large concentration of Westerners. These locations could include popular nightclubs, restaurants, malls and places of worship that cater to the expatriate community. Clearly, you will need to frequent shopping centers and grocery stores during the course of your normal activities, but these trips should be out of necessity. Window shopping and store browsing should be avoided. When out in public, be aware of exit points from any building you are in and keep yourself oriented. Consider carrying a small flashlight in your purse to guide your way in case of a power outage.

Keep the following at hand and up-to-date at all times:

Passport Ensure your passport and any necessary visas are valid. This may be obvious, yet think of all the times that your passport has been in the hands of your company's formalities staff or at the immigration office for renewal. Be sure that you have a photocopy of all the pages in your passport BEFORE you turn in your passport at visa/work permit renewal time, or when applying for an exit/re-entry permit. By cooperating with your company's formalities staff to insure that they have all the necessary documents needed for your renewal, you may be able to shorten the amount of time your passport is in someone else's hands. During May 1998 evacuations some expats were allowed to leave on embassy sponsored flights (not commercial fights) without original passports (with only a photocopy) because their passports were in immigration for processing. Take care however, as leaving Indonesia without your original passport could greatly complicate your re-entry after the emergency situation has passed.

Valid Exit/Re-entry Permit Under normal conditions, an expatriate in Indonesia on a resident permit would not be allowed to leave Indonesia if he/she does not have a valid exit/reentry permit stamped in his/her passport. We have no reason to believe that under emergency conditions this regulation would be waived. Why take a chance. Imagine taking your run to the airport and finding you can't leave! To avoid any hassles at the airport, always keep your exit/re-entry permit up to date. A multiple exit/re-entry permit valid for six months is the best to have, not a single exit/re-entry.

Fiskal Tax The Fiskal tax of Rp 1,000,000 per person must be paid by all Indonesian citizens and resident foreigners (those holding KITAS or KITAP cards) whenever they leave the country. Foreigners visiting Indonesia on Social/Visit Visas for a period exceeding 90 days are also obligated to pay this tax each time they leave the country. Be certain that you have enough rupiah on hand to pay the fiskal tax for all the members in your family. Children may be exempt. During May 1998 evacuations we heard stories of attempts to charge departing people up to Rp 5 million for fiskal. Only LOUD protestations brought the price back down to the posted price.

If you are living in a remote area of eastern Indonesia, consider maintaining an up-to-date visa for Australia at all times. In evacuations from Ambon in January 1999 ... those foreigners who had valid visas to Australia were in a much better position to get to a "safe harbor" quickly.

Keep a sufficient amount of traveler's checks or foreign currency on hand for the country to which you may be evacuated, be that Singapore or Australia or your home country. During emergency situations, credit cards may not be accepted and ATMs may not be functioning.