Increase in Jakarta-Kuching flights will facilitate cross-border movement, says Consulate General

KUCHING (Jan 20): The increase in flight frequency between Jakarta and Kuching will further facilitate cross-border movement and strengthen bilateral ties between Sarawak and Indonesia, said the Consul-General of the Republic of Indonesia in Kuching Raden Sigit Witjaksono.

He said the additional flights operated by AirAsia Indonesia is an increase from the current three flights per week, and the new daily flight frequency will commence Feb 8.

“We hope additional flights will not only be limited to Jakarta, but be expanded to other destinations in West Kalimantan — including the potential revival of the Pontianak-Kuching route,” he told reporters during an Immigration Day’s celebration held at the consulate’s premises here today.

Raden expressed optimism that more direct flights between Indonesia and Kuching will be introduced once the former’s new capital Nusantara is relocated to Kalimantan.

He highlighted it was actually nearer for Indonesians to come to Sarawak, compared to travelling to Kuala Lumpur.

Touching on medical tourism, Raden expects more Indonesians will visit the state for medical purposes once the country’s capital has been relocated, and at the same time he encouraged more Sarawakians to travel to the various border destinations in West Kalimantan.

Moreover, he said there has been a flurry of social, cultural and economic exchanges between Indonesia and Sarawak in the past few years — a positive trend since both Sarawak and Indonesia share a land border spanning about 2,000 kilometres.

“We hope there will be more collaborations in product exports between Indonesia and Sarawak to explore the markets beyond Borneo. Not only limiting to Indonesia, Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah but beyond like East Asia,” he said.

Raden added his office is now embarking on a digitalisation initiative to simplify the renewal process of passports for Indonesians working in the state.

“In actual fact, the digitalisation initiative begun a few years ago but we aim to further improve the online application process and deliver better service to our people in renewing their passport,” he said, adding his officers are in the final stages of fully setting up the online platform.