Jakarta CGK Airport Reviews | Soekarno-Hatta International Airport

I had “the pleasure” of passing through the airport of Sukarno – Hatta at the end of last December (2012). The immigration control is abominable! Being a student from Russia, I had stayed in Indonesia for four months to have practice at Universitas Indonesia. An immigration official called Nyoman Asta Brata refused to let me pass to the plane in a rude fashion, talking of some document I allegedly hadn’t submitted to the local immigration office at Depok (where the university is). I was astonished since I had followed the instructions of the university foreign department to the letter and two days before the flight I had come to the airport to check whether I had all necessary documents. The most unpleasant thing was that when I told Mr. Brata I had some rights, he replied rudely: “Here you have no rights at all!” I asked his name, but he refused to tell it; seeing I was writing his name down (it happened to be written on a badge), he shouted and tried to tear the slip of paper out of my hand. I had to cancel my flight and return to Depok to arrange the document he was demanding. I was very lucky to leave Indonesia the following day (am grateful to the Russian embassy in Jakarta for assistance), but with a very sad feeling. Employees of the immigration office at the embassy confirmed that from the legal point of view I had had the right to cross the border that day. I know that such insolent people do not compose the bulk of the airport personnel, but I shall never forget the feeling of injustice done to me and my utter helplessness before such a rude person. I never met such an attitude towards foreigners in any airport before. It’s a great pity that such person as Nyoman Asta Brata works in this capacity and so doing, in a sense, defines the face of the country.