Immigration office to deport six German students

Immigration office to deport six German students

JAKARTA (JP): The six German students arrested by police last
Saturday would be deported on Tuesday as they had violated
immigration regulations, the immigration enforcement section said
on Monday.

Mohammad Indra, director of the immigration enforcement
section, said on Monday that they would also be prohibited from
entering Indonesia for between the next six months and a year, as
provided for in article 42 of the Indonesian immigration law.

"After questioning them today, we concluded they had violated
their visas. They entered Indonesia with tourist visas, but
during their stay they conducted research," he told a press
conference.

Indra added that foreigners wanting to conduct research must
obtain permits from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI)
then arrange the appropriate visa from the Indonesian embassy in
their respective countries.

The students were arrested last Saturday in the slum area of
Karang Anyar, Central Jakarta, while holding a dialogue with the
residents of the area.

The students, Miriam Hinz, Norbert Binternagel, Ina Maxime
Chaefer, Niklas Gebert, Martin Geiger and Katrin Christine Bohle,
were accompanied by Horas Siringo-ringo from the Urban Poor
Consortium (UPC) and a translator. They are part of a group of 27
demographic and geography students from Bonn University.

The rest of the group will not be deported.

"Only the six students will be deported. We have yet to decide
about the rest," said Ade E. Dahlan, spokesman for the
immigration office.

The students however insisted that they were on an excursion
and were not conducting any research.

"Aside from visiting tourist destinations in Java, Kalimantan
and Bali, we would also like to see how people in Indonesia live.
For example, we would like to know how many garbagemen live here
as some of us study demography," said Niklas Gebert, who
organized the trip.

Nonetheless, the fact that they interviewed some people in the
slum area is considered as "compiling data", a method used in
research, according to the immigration office.

"With their agenda, it would have been more appropriate if
they had used a social and cultural visit visa, which allows
foreigners to conduct research in Indonesia," Indra said, adding
that the students should have consulted the Indonesian embassy in
their country if they were uncertain about the visa requirements.

After their arrest, the police alleged they were connected
with last week's clash between pedicab drivers and city public
order officers, in which a civilian guard was killed.

The students arrived in Jakarta two days before the incident.

The UPC is known to have helped pedicab drivers in fighting to
be allowed to continue operating in the city.

The students claimed that they found the UPC's website on the
Internet, and later on asked for its assistance in directing them
to slum areas.

"We are victims of circumstance. We arrived at the wrong time
and in wrong place. We were completely unaware of the current
political situation," Gebert said, referring to the UPC's role in
relation to the pedicab drivers.

Separately, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul
Alam said the legal process for the six foreign students had been
completed and they had been handed over to the German Embassy.

"Their deportation will be jointly coordinated by the
immigration office and the German embassy," Anton told reporters
on Monday.

According to Anton, the police had to arrest them because they
played "hide-and-seek" with the police over their research
activities, and had failed to notify police about their visit to
the area where they were allegedly conducting their survey."

"For foreigners, the visa-upon-arrival facility can be used
for many purposes, except for research activities. They have to
notify the local police before starting their research," Anton
maintained.

The students, however, accepted the immigration department's
determination and apologized for the inconvenience they had
caused the government.

"We'd like to apologize for causing problems for the
government. We will follow the procedures designated by the
government," Gebert remarked. (06/emf)