Directorate General of Immigration Evaluates Visa-Free Policy to Prevent Scammers
The Directorate General (Ditjen) of Immigration under the Ministry of Immigration and Correctional Services (Kemenimipas) is considering evaluating the visa-free policy for certain countries suspected of being “producers” of scammers as a preventive measure to stop Indonesia from becoming a safe haven for scam perpetrators.
This step follows the emergence of a phenomenon where several foreign nationals (WNA) enter Indonesian territory by misusing residence permits to work as scammers, as recently revealed by the arrest of 210 foreign nationals in Batam City, Riau Islands, of which 125 are Vietnamese nationals.
“With this phenomenon, we will look further ahead at preventive steps against certain countries that are indeed ‘producers’ of scammer perpetrators,” said Hendarsam during the press conference on the arrest of 210 foreign nationals suspected of being scammers in Batam, monitored online from Jakarta on Friday.
For Batam, the 210 foreign nationals consist of 125 Vietnamese nationals, 84 Chinese nationals, and one Myanmar national.
According to Hendarsam, the most important step in anticipating this phenomenon is to strengthen early detection and intelligence functions, including the human resources (SDM) of Immigration at border lines, whether land, sea, or air, to conduct accurate screening (examination).
If all those steps have been taken, he said, but similar incidents still occur, then evaluating the visa-free policy is necessary as a prevention effort so that Indonesia is not made a safe haven by scammer perpetrators.
“If indeed in the future we need to evaluate that matter, then we will do so. Immigration will continue to enhance its capabilities to anticipate this phenomenon,” he stated.
“There are investments that must be promoted, there is tourism that must continue to run, but on the other hand, security, economic sovereignty, and national sovereignty must be balanced. Our function here as facilitators and law enforcers to balance those two things will be more progressive and rigid so that in the future this can be reduced,” said Hendarsam.
Hendarsam emphasised that synergy and collaboration between immigration and law enforcement apparatus is the key to ensuring that the wheels of the economy and tourism run smoothly while national security and sovereignty remain maintained.
The uncovering of several cases of foreign nationals suspected of conducting scams in Indonesia is the fruit of cooperation between Immigration and law enforcement apparatus at the central and regional levels.
“We cannot work alone; areas that we suspect as gathering places for transnational criminal activities, we need to coordinate with the police. If a criminal act occurs, pro justitia action can be taken,” he said.
Some of those uncoverings first occurred in Denpasar, Bali, then in Surabaya, East Java, in Surakarta, Central Java, Yogyakarta, Bogor, and Sukabumi, West Java.
“And we just received the latest information that there was also an arrest in Jakarta this afternoon of 300 foreign nationals,” said Untung.
According to him, this has become a phenomenon after several countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam conducted large-scale eradications of scam crimes. As a result, many perpetrators continue their illicit business by spreading to several countries, one of which is Indonesia.
“The perpetrators are making Indonesia a new destination, and we do not want our country to become a safe haven for these scammers,” he asserted.