Immigration office infested with corruption<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A man is standing in line in front of a counter at the
\nImmigration Office in South Jakarta. He is carrying a cheap-
\nlooking folder containing copies of important documents, while
\nhis other hand is in his pocket to keep his wallet safe from any
\npickpockets who might be loitering about.<\/p>\n
When his turn arrives, he steps toward the counter and submits
\nthe folders and their contents, whispering to the counter officer
\nthat he needs his passport application to be processed fast, not
\nforgetting to slip several Rp 50,000 bills inside the folder.<\/p>\n
The officer puts on a bored look and nods before placing the
\nfolder on top of a huge stack of identical-looking folders
\nwaiting on his desk to be transferred to other desks.<\/p>\n
That is the scene inside the South Jakarta Immigration Office,
\nwhen dozens of people come daily to apply for a new passport,
\nrenew old passports or apply for new temporary stay permit cards.<\/p>\n
A middleman hanging around the office told The Jakarta Post
\nit was necessary to give some money to the officers to get your
\npassport finished fast. Otherwise the application would be left
\nto collect dust in some corner.<\/p>\n
\"If you want your passport to be finished in one day then you
\nshould add about Rp 120,000 for the officers behind each
\ncounter,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The middleman, named Tono, said he handed over Rp 100,000 at
\nthe first counter when he submitted the documents of his
\n\"clients\", and then added an extra Rp 5,000 for each officer who
\ntook the fingerprints and photographs, and also for the officer
\nchecking the travel ban list.<\/p>\n
\"That amount may vary depending on whether you know the person
\nor not, especially if you are new to the place and don't know
\nanyone,\" Tono said.<\/p>\n
Thus, Tono often charges his clients about Rp 500,000, almost
\ntwice the official Rp 260,000 fee for a passport (Rp 200,000 for
\nthe documents, Rp 55,000 for the photograph and Rp 5,000 for the
\nstamps).<\/p>\n
\"We have to give the officers some money. That's why the
\npassport fee is so high,\" Tono said.<\/p>\n
Tono's colleague Andi, who was standing in front of the
\nimmigration office looking for customers, said almost the same
\nthing.<\/p>\n
\"This is a public secret. Everyone knows these officers are
\ncorrupt but no one makes a fuss about it. They just accept it and
\ngive them money in order to get their documents processed,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Andi added that the Central Jakarta Immigration Office in
\nKemayoran was the most expensive immigration office in the city,
\nbecause the officers thought the people in the area were
\naffluent.<\/p>\n
A 31-year-old woman, Afiati, who was applying for a passport
\nfor her four-year-old daughter, was furious because she was told
\nthat if she \"only\" paid the official fee the passport would not
\nbe finished for two weeks, and she would have to check on the
\npassport's progress every three days.<\/p>\n
\"The officer told me without shame that I had to give him Rp
\n500,000 if I wanted my daughter's passport finished tomorrow,\"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
She thought such practices no longer existed, especially after
\nPresident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's vow to stop government
\nofficials from demanding illegal payments.<\/p>\n
However, she paid the money because she needed her daughter's
\npassport immediately.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the Directorate General of Immigration,
\nSupriatna Anwar, told the Post his office was working to
\neliminate corruption from the country's immigration offices.<\/p>\n
\"We are standardizing the rules to make it easier for the
\nofficers at each immigration office and also for the applicants
\nto know what fees are needed for a new passport or any
\nimmigration document,\" Supriatna said.<\/p>\n
Supriatna also urged the public to be proactive and report
\nimmigration officers who demanded extra payments to the police or
\nhis office.<\/p>\n
\"We have put notices in each of our branch offices urging
\npeople to report these officers. There is also a telephone number
\npeople can call to complain,\" Supriatna said.<\/p>\n
He said civil servant found committing a crime, including
\ncorruption, could be fired, according to Governmental Regulation
\nNo. 30\/1980.<\/p>\n
\"The perception that there are no sanctions for officers who
\nviolate the law is wrong,\" he said.<\/p>\n
However, he refused to provide data on the number of
\nimmigration officials who had been punished for corruption.<\/p>\n
Analysts say while punishments are in place for crooked
\nofficials, it remains difficult to enforce these punishments
\nbecause they have to be approved by the officials' supervisors,
\nwho often share the illegal revenue collected by the officials.<\/p>",
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