britoo wrote
Looked at from the perspective of an individual or a couple - it's pretty inconsequential as you say, at worst death by 1000 cuts.
Considered from the point of a family (probably Oz ) wanting a beach holiday, wife and kids, it starts to load the holiday cost on top of the VOA cost per pax that wasn't previously payable when waiver was out there. It's enough to sting with righteous indignation if nothing else. Take a side trip to Gili and you get whacked again.
There are plenty of repeat visit tourists who value Bali as an affordable holiday - they are the ones taking the hit.
Another category includes individuals who must undertake a visa run every three months.
It appears that the Indonesian Immigration does not fully endorse this initiative, as they let the Bali Government to handle collections itself. They could have been collected together with the eVOA.
Additionally, there is the potential for other provincial governments in Indonesia want to do the same as it is an easy money for them. It's important to note as the funds collected go directly to the local government, rather than the central making it challenging to police it.
You have witnessed this practice in the past. A few examples include money being collected directly by state universities for admission to highly subscribed courses such as medicine, engineering. As long as the students could pay a large lump sum of money for development and an additional sum in tuition fee pa, directly to the universities, they get admission even if they did not pass the entry examination on the first attempt. Consequently, one can now witness the significant disparities in the quality of graduates, including doctors and engineers, even from the reputable state universities. Keep in mind in Indonesia the salaries of Teachers, Lecturers, professors at the state universities or schools are not funded by directly from the money collected by the universities as they are civil servants but they are paid by the taxpayers.
