2,600 foreigners barred from RI

2,600 foreigners barred from RI

JAKARTA (JP): In 1995, 2,606 foreigners were barred from entering Indonesia and 680 Indonesians were on the immigration's list of people banned from leaving the country.

Director General of Immigration Pranowo told a hearing with the House of Representatives that the immigration's blacklist expanded last year compared to 1994.

In 1994, there were 665 Indonesians and 1,622 foreigners on the list, he said at the hearing with the House's Commission III for legal affairs.

Pranowo said that while some of the travel bans were imposed by his office because the people violated some immigration rules, there were also bans that were requested either by the attorney general, minister of finance or the Armed Forces chief.

Pranowo was not in a position to disclose the reasons behind the bans that were ordered by the attorney general, the minister of finance or the Armed Forces chief.

By law, the attorney general can impose a travel ban against people wanted by the police or those facing court trials while orders from the minister of finance are usually connected with tax matters. Travel bans ordered by the Armed Forces chief are usually for political reasons.

According to Pranowo, of the 680 Indonesian barred from leaving the country last year, 542 were barred by the attorney general, 104 by the finance minister and 34 by the directorate general of immigration. None were ordered by the Armed Forces chief.

Of the 2,066 foreigners on the immigration blacklist, 1,601 names were supplied by the directorate general of immigration, 225 by the attorney general and 240 by the Armed Forces chief.

Pranowo also explained that his office has received applications for naturalization from 208,820 people, mostly of Chinese origins who have been stateless these past two decades.

Immigration authorities have already processed 118,573 applications and forwarded them to the Ministry of Justice. The papers have then to be processed by the state secretariat.

He said that the President late last year issued an instruction to the Ministry of Justice to speed up the process for applications for naturalization. (16)