Enforcement of immigration laws

Enforcement of immigration laws

In connection with the issuance of Law No. 28/1997 dated Oct.
7, 1997, on the Indonesian police force, allow me to put forward
the relationship between this law and Law No. 9/1992 on
immigration with its enforcement regulations.

Government Regulation No. 31/1994, dated Oct. 14, 1994, was
based on the control of aliens and immigration measures,
particularly with respect to aliens (Article 14 subarticle 1 j,
Article 15 subarticle 11 of Law No. 28/97; articles 60 and 61 of
Law No. 9/92 and articles 9, 10, 19 of Government Regulation No.
31/94).

In practice the two articles in the law on immigration and the
three articles in the government regulation have not been
consistently implemented by the police. Article 60 stipulates
that "whoever provides overnight accommodations to an alien and
fails to report this to an officer of the police force of the
Republic of Indonesia or a regional administration official
within 24 (twenty-four) hours after the arrival of the said
alien, shall be penalized with imprisonment with a maximum period
of 1 (one) year or a fine of up to Rp 5 million".

While Article 61 stipulates that "an alien who already
possesses a stay permit but fails to report to the police force
of the Republic of Indonesia of his/her stay or his/her domicile
within 30 (thirty) days from the time when he/she obtains the
residence permit, shall be penalized with imprisonment with a
maximum period of 1 (one) year or a fine of up to Rp 5 million".
(Note: articles 10 and 19 mention more or less the same thing).

Every alien in Indonesia in possession of a residence permit
from the immigration office has performed the obligation set
forth in Article 61 and Article 19, namely by obtaining an SKLD
(self-report certificate) from the police.

While every alien who visits Indonesia as a tourist or for
business purposes by virtue of a visitation permit from the
immigration office is reported by the those providing
accommodation, be it the hotel or those responsible for the
company's boarding house, where these aliens stay (Article
60/Article 9/Article 10)

This is accomplished by obtaining an STM (a reporting
certificate). (Note: perhaps the obligation to obtain the STM
arises only in the case of an alien staying at his friend's or
relative's house, whether this friend or relative is an
Indonesian citizen or also an alien already in possession of a
stay permit/SKLD (see Article 10 of Government Regulation No.
31/94).

Those staying at a hotel are to be registered in a visitors
book and a list of aliens pursuant to Article 9 of Government
Regulation No. 31/94.

In reality, the police also require that with respect to all
aliens -- whether they come for a visit or they already have a
residence permit and are in possession of a work permit and SKLD
-- job providers report and obtain an STM for them, because to
the understanding of the police, "a person providing overnight
accommodations" is construed as being the same as "a company
providing employment".

This has caused confusion about the meaning and the
implementation of these two articles. If you read the STM form,
you will find that it is not relevant to an alien who already has
a residence (renting or owning a house or condominium) because
the alien does not spend the night at the residence of someone
making the report, but stays at his or her own house.

Due to this confusion, I have enthusiastically read Law No.
28/97, which, in my opinion, would perhaps be made more clear if
it was connected with Law No. 9/92. It turns out that the law on
the police force mentions only the following:

Article 14 subarticle 1 j: In performing the tasks as meant in
Article 13, the Indonesian Police Force shall exercise control of
aliens found in the territory of Indonesia in coordination with
relevant government agencies pursuant to the law.

And Article 15 subarticle 1 l: In the framework of performing
the tasks as meant in Article 13 and Article 14, the Indonesian
Police Force is generally authorized to issue a permit and/or a
certificate needed in the context of providing services to the
community.

In connection with the above, I ask the following to the
authorities (the police and immigration officials): "Is it true
that the implementation of the law on immigration affairs is
carried out as mentioned above (with an alien in possession of an
SKLD -- pursuant to Article 61/Article 19 -- also needing to be
reported)?

This means that an alien already in possession of a stay
permit, along with other complete documents, such as a work
permit from the Ministry of Manpower/BKPM, SKLD from the police,
SKPPS (temporary resident registration certificate) from the
population service and SKTT (domicile certificate for an alien)
from the local subdistrict or village will still be categorized
as one not in possession of complete documents when the alien
applies for an STM.

The enforcement of articles 60, 9 and 10 should actually be
focused on aliens who have come only for a temporary visit by
virtue of a visitation permit and not for those already in
possession of a limited/permanent stay permit.

We who have to handle matters related to aliens in our
respective companies hope to receive satisfactory information
which might clarify the enforcement of the two laws mentioned
above.

Name and address

known to the editor