Originally Posted by
India Four Two
I also worked in Indonesia, about ten years before you, tdracer. The oil company I worked for had a similar policy. I had to sign a document indicating that I would abide by the policy. Luckily there was a significant 'but' in the policy. 'Facilitating payments' were allowed to grease the bureaucratic wheels, so I never had any problem with work permits (KIM-S).
An interesting example of this policy was how to obtain a driving licence. For next to no money, you could hang around the Jakarta police headquarters for a couple of days, going to various offices, getting paperwork stamped and doing a driving test.
For $100, you could go there with a minder and complete the process in a couple of hours, without taking a driving test. For $300, you could skip the visit and have the licence delivered!
All very much still in place in the capital of a well-known major western country, when getting visas to travel to such places.
There's a longwinded "official" process, and there are agents. Guess who owns the agencies ?