Restaurant owner to be questioned over immigrants

JAKARTA (JP): The Directorate General of Immigration will question the owner of a West Jakarta restaurant over his safeguarding of illegal immigrants from China.

Immigration Supervision Office director Zaiman Nurmatias said yesterday that Malik Husada, alias Apong, the owner of Tio An restaurant, should be held responsible for providing lodging to the 14 Chinese people.

"The official letter of summon will be sent to Apong soon," Zaiman said.

The 14 Chinese people, with business visas, entered Indonesia between Nov. 22 and Nov. 27 via the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

The visas were issued by the Indonesian Consulate General in Hong Kong and the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing. The Chinese said they were the business partners of PT Aliansi Globe Jaya (PT AGJ), PT Gemari Agrindo (PT GA), PT Sendon Inter Buana (PT SIB) and PT City Perkasa Mandiri (PT CPM), Zaiman said. The companies are travel agents.

"The problem is that all the Chinese people are farmers in their country, while they applied for business visas claiming to be business partners of travel agents," Zaiman said.

Zaiman said the 14 immigrants said they knew nothing about the Indonesian companies they had claimed to be their sponsors.

"They also admitted they had been selling jade at roadsides in various cities in Indonesia," he said.

He said the immigration office had been watching them before arresting them at Apong's three-story restaurant.

"The first floor is used as a restaurant while the second and third floors have rooms for the 14 immigrants," Zaiman said.

He said Apong had not been cooperative. "He tried to restrain us from searching the building," he said.

The illegal immigrants are now in Immigration Quarantine in Kalideres, West Jakarta.

"We are intensively questioning them. If found guilty they will soon be deported," he said.

Zaiman denied the immigration office violated the law by raiding Apong's restaurant.

"Everything was legal. The officers had an official order to search the restaurant and arrest the foreigners. Furthermore, immigration officers have the right to arrest foreigners believed to be violating immigration laws," he said. (sur)