Six German students arrested over visa violations
Six German students arrested over visa violations
JAKARTA (JP): Police arrested six German students who were
conducting a demographical survey in a slum area of Karang Anyar
in Central Jakarta on Saturday evening for immigration
violations, a police spokesman said on Sunday.
The students were released at about 10 a.m. the following
morning.
"They were arrested for immigration violations. They entered
Indonesia on tourist visas although the purpose of their visit
was to conduct a survey," city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton
Bachrul Alam told The Jakarta Post.
He said the six students, who were arrested along with three
local people, were taken to the Central Jakarta Police Station
for questioning.
The foreigners are among a group of 27 students of the
University of Bonn who arrived in the city on Friday for a
demographical and geographical survey.
The six were identified only as Niklas, Ina, Katherine, Marie,
Patrick and Martin, while the local people were Horas Siringo-
ringo of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), Slamet Tompel, a
resident of Karang Anyar and Elizabeth, a translator.
After they were released, the students were transferred to the
immigration office. They were allowed to leave the office within
an hour.
An immigration officer told the Post they held the students'
passports and told them to come to the immigration office for
further questioning on Monday.
The three local people were later released on Sunday
afternoon.
UPC's advocacy division head M. Berkah Gumulya criticized the
police for the arrest.
"It shows that the police tried to halt people's freedom of
expression and union," Gumulya told the Post.
He said the students were interviewing slum residents when the
police came. Some of them were taken to a police truck and some
others were taken by taxi to the police station.
He said the students were questioned from about 6 p.m. on
Saturday until 2 a.m. on Sunday morning "without being given
sufficient food and drink".
UPC activists accompanied the students visiting five slum
areas in the city's five mayoralties and also a luxury housing
complex in Bumi Serpong Damai, Tangerang, where the German
International School and a German center are found.
The 27 students are staying at Wisma Karya on Jl. Jaksa,
Central Jakarta.
When the Post tried to contact them on Sunday night, an
employee of the hostel said that the guests were not available.
Gumulya revealed the six students were initially charged by
the police in connection with a clash between becak (pedicab)
drivers and the city's public order officers, in which a civilian
guard was killed.
The incident occurred in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, two days
before the students' arrival in the city.
Meanwhile, a researcher from the Indonesian Institute of
Science (LIPI) Hermawan Sulistyo admitted that many foreign
researchers used tourist visas, since it was difficult to obtain
the appropriate visa.
"The process could take even up to a year," he told the Post
He said researchers were required to get permits from many
state institutions, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
the State Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Bakin).
In June this year, police arrested 32 foreigners who joined an
international seminar on labor in Sawangan, South Jakarta.
They were later transferred to the immigration office. But
immigration authorities said 31 of them had a short-visit visa,
which allowed them to attend the seminar. Only a Pakistani was
deported as he held a tourist visa. (jun)