Immigration Develops 'Digital Fence' to Monitor Border Crossings

The Directorate General of Immigration at the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections is developing a ‘digital fence’ concept to strengthen surveillance of crossings in Indonesia’s border areas.

Director General of Immigration Hendarsam Marantoko said the use of technology is essential because Indonesia has a vast land border that is difficult to monitor through physical guarding alone.

Indonesia shares land borders with Malaysia, Timor-Leste, and Papua New Guinea, with a total border length of approximately 3,111 kilometres. This situation means there are still a number of unofficial routes used by local communities to cross.

‘The border is on land, it is impossible for us to cover it all. Therefore, the challenge is that there are many unofficial crossing routes used for people’s daily lives,’ Hendarsam said during a press briefing at the Immigration Office on Wednesday (12/8).

According to him, surveillance must also take into account the conditions of communities in border areas. In several regions, people from two countries have kinship ties and live in a single area that is administratively separated by a national border.

‘For example, in Papua New Guinea or Timor-Leste, the border splits communities between two countries. But the people are of one blood, one village. They go back and forth freely,’ he said.

To strengthen surveillance, Immigration has begun utilising drone technology. The technology is intended to monitor the movement of people and activities in border areas that are difficult for officers to reach.

Hendarsam said his agency is also cooperating with the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) to develop domestic drone technology.

‘We have held intensive meetings with our colleagues at ITB. To carry this out, we are confident that our nation’s young people are capable of doing it,’ he said.

According to him, the drone technology being developed can use solar power, enabling long-duration operation.

‘This is what we will need, and we just need to add a virtual reality device. We will also add a base reconnection system there,’ he said.

The technology is expected to record the movement of people crossing at certain points and feed the data into Immigration’s surveillance system.

‘At the very least, every person who passes in and out of the area at certain points will be entered into our data bank. It will go into our command centre. Who crossed that day, their movements, whether there are any anomalies. That is what we will do,’ Hendarsam said.

The data will serve as the basis for Immigration to carry out early detection and preventive measures against potential violations in border areas.

Hendarsam believes the development of such technology is necessary because the characteristics of Indonesia’s borders differ from those of other countries. As such, border surveillance requires an innovative and progressive approach.

‘We need to do something more innovative and progressive in relation to this,’ he said.

He stressed that Immigration is also encouraging the development of domestic technology for border surveillance needs, rather than relying entirely on foreign products.

‘We are confident we can do this rather than using products from abroad,’ he said.