Jakarta

[Traveler1234]

So I wonder what real value it would have in a place like Jakarta over a copy of my passport book and my Drivers License.

I did not mean to imply it replaces the passport.

But it does state "passport" on the card and hey, with a few rupiah 'stucked to back' of card, can't hurt. I recall back in early 90's living in Jakarta and taking the kids to school one day. Driver was sick, cop pulled me over and I gave him the lunch money to avoid getting ticket.

YMMV.

[Member #4698]

This is a quote from the US Passport Web site:

"The passport card is a credit-card size USA Passport that, just like a passport book, is proof of USA Citizenship and identity. It is more convenient and less expensive than a passport book, but can only be used to re-enter the United States at land border crossings and sea ports-of-entry from:

Canada.
Mexico.
The Caribbean.
Bermuda.

The passport card cannot be used for international air travel. ".

So I wonder what real value it would have in a place like Jakarta over a copy of my passport book and my Drivers License. I suppose some, but would it matter to a cop out to shake me down or one with an anti American grudge? And since I have never been hassled for not having a passport in my possession except in Colombia in the bad old days, I am not too worried about it now.

[Member #2041]

The law is clear, visitors are required to have passport all the time. In practice, seldom enforced. I always make multi-copies of passport plus USA offers a $25 passport card, size of credit card which I carry as my regular ID when abroad. YMMV.

The Passport card is $30 nowadays. I got mine last month.

[Traveler1234]

To all the people who live there what does the law say? Is it enough to carry a copy of passport with me in case there is a police check or not?

The law is clear, visitors are required to have passport all the time. In practice, seldom enforced. I always make multi-copies of passport plus USA offers a $25 passport card, size of credit card which I carry as my regular ID when abroad. YMMV.

[Ggekko2009]

To all the people who live there what does the law say? Is it enough to carry a copy of passport with me in case there is a police check or not?

I don't want to carry my original passport at night since I don't want to lose it.

Corrupted cops in any country always try to scare tourists so they can bribe them more quickly. It s a common tactic.

If you are Caucasian, I think it may be safer to carry your passport, since you may be an easy target. I have yet to experience it since I am Asian and probably blend in better in the crowd. But never say never, knock on wood. Nonetheless, as the saying goes, a simple bribe will go a long away. I would assume Rp. 100 K will be more than enough for them if you are ever caught in a jam. After all, it's the endgame for all these corrupt people.

[Muzungufotsy]

To all the people who live there what does the law say? Is it enough to carry a copy of passport with me in case there is a police check or not?

I don't want to carry my original passport at night since I don't want to lose it.

Corrupted cops in any country always try to scare tourists so they can bribe them more quickly. It s a common tactic.

[LA Guy 5]

I posted some more details about the experience with immigration, in 2 parts.

In your post you said that you always carry your passport, were you aware that you had to or were you just being cautious?

Reason why I asked, is while I was living in Bangkok I never carried my passport but had my drivers license on me at all times. When I was stopped by police this was enough for them when they checked. However it wasn't enough for the IDN immigration.

Thanks for the clarification. I used to carry a photocopy of the relevant portions of my passport. However, I once was stopped while in a Bluebird on Pangeran Jayakarta and the policeman said I needed my original passport and had a choice of paying him $100 US or "going to the office." I ended up negotiating the amount down to 100,000 rupiah, but found the incident unsettling, particularly given who knows what he would have done if I selected "going to the office"; I suppose there was an outside chance of having drugs planted on me or something similar.

Since that incident I do almost always carry my passport while in Jakarta. Although I have been stopped only one additional time (I noted where most of the stops in North Jakarta were being made and avoided them), showing my passport got me through that checkpoint. One might counter that if a policeman wants a bribe, he will find out a way even if one has his original passport with him, but I think the phrase "honor among thieves," might apply here, at least to some extent. Meaning even a corrupt policeman has to rationalize his own behavior, and adopt certain rules, such as "it is okay to solicit a bribe from someone who is breaking the law, but not from someone who is not. " It undoubtedly is a rule that does not apply 100 percent of the time but I suspect more often than not a policeman in Jakarta is not going to go out of their way to shake someone down who has their passport with them and is otherwise complying with the law.

So, I nearly always carry my passport while in Indonesia. In Thailand I never do owing to my assessment the risk is much lower although I am a bit concerned about whether things might at some point get a bit more difficult under the military dictatorship.

[Bkk212]

I posted some more details about the experience with immigration, in 2 parts.

In your post you said that you always carry your passport, were you aware that you had to or were you just being cautious?

Reason why I asked, is while I was living in Bangkok I never carried my passport but had my drivers license on me at all times. When I was stopped by police this was enough for them when they checked. However it wasn't enough for the IDN immigration.

Sorry to hear about your experience. I am curious though about how it came about that immigration (rather than the police) nabbed you outside the Novotel. If possible, could you provide some more detail about this given my previous experiences with the passport issue have always involved the police, not immigration?

In a way your post vindicates some of my earlier posts which stated I always (actually almost always) carry my passport with me when in Jakarta to avoid these sorts of situations. I have it in a passport holder that I keep in my front pocket but have attached to one of my belt loops for security (which is under my shirt tail). One of the yahoos here who seems to have nothing better to do than to criticize others' posts once posted that the fact I carried my passport with me meant I had no credibility on this board. I wish it was he, not you, who had been detained, but I suppose there is always hope for the future.

[Bkk212]

In the office they were processing individuals at a very slow pace. Some of the others were from UK and other English speaking countries so we started to discuss among ourselves what was going on. Being held because we did have our passport and not being allowed to go and get it, really doesn't make any sense. Until one guy claimed that we would have to pay 250,000 IDR each as a fine to leave. But around 4:00 am they (immigration) decided that they would stop processing and that we would have to wait until the morning for when the "big boss" arrives. So once again we asked why can we not go and get our passports, no answer and at this point they (all of them) started to pretend that they can't speak English so they can't understand what we are asking.

At 9:00 am the next day some of the other individuals contacted their embassy and the embassies sent someone to help them out, but what the embassy individuals did was got to the hotels and bring the passports to the office. I contacted the Canadian embassy which was of no help whatsoever. On the trip by myself I was stuck as what to do. So I called the Novotel manager and he went to my room and sent the bellboy with my passport to the office. However the bellboy got the run around for about 3 hours (which I did not have any contact with him except by phone), after 3 hrs he called the manager who came down in person to speak with the whomever. He apparently made some progress as about 4 pm on Wednesday the "big boss. Stephen Gentes" came to speak with me to tell me that I would be processed later. Later was around 10:00 pm on Wednesday in which they checked / verified what they had to do and I was allowed to leave. The manager of the hotel really did help me out quite a bit and for that I am eternally grateful.

Someone asked about a bribe but I wasn't about to pay any bribes if that was ever a topic with me I would have called the hotel manager once again to intervene. But some of the other guys were telling me that they were told they had to pay 2. 5 M IDR to get released, he got this from his wife as she was discussing this with the officers. How true this is I don't know.

This is my very disappointing experience in Jakarta for July 2016, I have been coming here semi-annually for almost 10 years. Looks like I will have to choose BKK next time for my holidays.

[Bkk212]

Hi All,

I had a few questions about my immigration issue so I will try to answer them now.

But first I saw a post about the threesome in Jakarta and as much as I would like to try this every time I go to Jakarta I can't seem to make it happen for the best result. About 1 year ago I tried 2 girls from the mama on Gajah Mada but it was a nightmare experience. And now I am concerned about the WOS in the Novotel as now I am known by everyone so what I do is surely passed around in the hotel.

Ok immigration details: I was leaving the Novotel on 26th July, 2016 around 11:45 pm (my usual time) on my way to Blok M. As I left the hotel I noticed a group of people with TV cameras out on the street in front of the hotel but I paid no attention to them and walked past. That's when several individuals claiming to be immigration officers approached me and asked for my passport, now I was still on Novotel property I didn't leave the hotel area when they approached me, as I didn't have my passport they told me I had to wait in the van that was parked on the street. While waiting they were manhandling several other tourists walking by on the street. We were taken to the immigration office in Kota and asked to wait there until the "boss" arrived. He did around 1:00 am and those who had their passports were processed first. There were about 45 individuals in the room, about 6 from the Novotel myself and 5 other Chinese (who had their passports). Others were from different hotels in the area.

[Koperen Klaas]

The only place I ever found in Jakarta where the girls will actually perform a true threesome where the girls will actually go down on each other as well is Hotel Melawai 6th floor Maribaya Massage.

The Maribaya girls work together very well but even the famous Shella was a bit apprehensive when Sasa started licking her nipples.

Regards,

Ko

[Lost99]

S/One of the yahoos here who seems to have nothing better to do than to criticize others' posts once posted that the fact I carried my passport with me meant I had no credibility on this board. I wish it was he, not you, who had been detained, but I suppose there is always hope for the future.

Can't believe someone here would have nothing better to do than criticize for not carrying a passport? I guess some people like to put others down to feel more important, as they have nothing else going on in their lives. Pretty sad if you ask me.

[Marky1]

My recent trip to Jakarta wasn't a very good experience, due to immigration. Just a warning to those who don't know this, carry your passport with you when you are outside your hotel. I got detained outside the Novotel by immigration who were not too pleasant. They insisted on seeing my passport which I didn't have on me and then they wouldn't let me get it from the room. So I was detained in the office fro 24 hours, until I got the hotel manager to bring my passport to me in the office. It really was a nightmare /.

Wow. What time of day / night did this happen? Did they demand a bribe at any point?

[LA Guy 5]

My recent trip to Jakarta wasn't a very good experience, due to immigration. Just a warning to those who don't know this, carry your passport with you when you are outside your hotel. I got detained outside the Novotel by immigration who were not too pleasant. They insisted on seeing my passport which I didn't have on me and then they wouldn't let me get it from the room. So I was detained in the office fro 24 hours, until I got the hotel manager to bring my passport to me in the office. It really was a nightmare /.

Next topic the girls at Blok M seems to be improving a bit, there were many more selections this time around in the bars in Blok M. Lots of new faces around and of course they all seems to be stuck on this 1 M price tag. Did take my usual girl but she isn't my much fun, very nice to look at, can dance as well but a "no touch" experience in the room. I thought over time she would lighten up a bit but still no GFE with her after so long.

Sorry to hear about your experience. I am curious though about how it came about that immigration (rather than the police) nabbed you outside the Novotel. If possible, could you provide some more detail about this given my previous experiences with the passport issue have always involved the police, not immigration?

In a way your post vindicates some of my earlier posts which stated I always (actually almost always) carry my passport with me when in Jakarta to avoid these sorts of situations. I have it in a passport holder that I keep in my front pocket but have attached to one of my belt loops for security (which is under my shirt tail). One of the yahoos here who seems to have nothing better to do than to criticize others' posts once posted that the fact I carried my passport with me meant I had no credibility on this board. I wish it was he, not you, who had been detained, but I suppose there is always hope for the future.

[Bkk212]

My recent trip to Jakarta wasn't a very good experience, due to immigration. Just a warning to those who don't know this, carry your passport with you when you are outside your hotel. I got detained outside the Novotel by immigration who were not too pleasant. They insisted on seeing my passport which I didn't have on me and then they wouldn't let me get it from the room. So I was detained in the office fro 24 hours, until I got the hotel manager to bring my passport to me in the office. It really was a nightmare /.

Next topic the girls at Blok M seems to be improving a bit, there were many more selections this time around in the bars in Blok M. Lots of new faces around and of course they all seems to be stuck on this 1 M price tag. Did take my usual girl but she isn't my much fun, very nice to look at, can dance as well but a "no touch" experience in the room. I thought over time she would lighten up a bit but still no GFE with her after so long.