Special team set up to supervise expats

Special team set up to supervise expats

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration set up a special joint
team yesterday to control and supervise the presence and
activities of foreigners in Jakarta, an official said.

The team leader, Iman Santoso, from the city immigration
office, said the Foreigners Control Coordination (Sipora) team,
which integrates 14 institutions involved in the control and
supervision of expatriates, would create a central information
network.

"We will have better and more accurate data about expatriates'
activities here. It will certainly help us monitor their
activities, if, for instance, some expatriates are involved in
crimes or illegal activities," Iman said after a ceremony to mark
the team's founding.

"All this time we haven't had a proper system or coordination
among institutions to monitor expatriates' activities."

The team was established based on a Ministry of Justice decree
No. M-43.PR.09.03/1996.

Under the decree, the Jakarta-based team will be a pilot
program for Sipora, which will eventually have similar teams in
the nation's 26 other provinces.

"Jakarta is the first to have this team. Hopefully this kind
of team will be set up in other provinces, especially those areas
popular among expatriates."

Iman said the Regional Justice Office and the City Population
Agency were among the participating institutions.

The team was inaugurated by Governor Sutiyoso, who was
represented by Deputy Governor for Economic and Financial Affairs
Harun Al Rasyid.

Data from the immigration office shows an average of 1,000
violations committed by expatriates per year since 1993.

Zaiman Nurmatias, the immigration office's director for
supervision and control, said: "Based on our observations, most
of the incidents are people overstaying their visa or violating
their work permits.

"With this new team, we hope to help curb and anticipate those
kinds of activities."

Zaiman said the immigration office would also crack down on
the issuance of visas for certain nationalities, including
Nigeria, Bangladesh and India.

Action needs to be taken as many citizens from particular
countries have repeatedly committed crimes and immigration
violations here, he said.

Immigration representatives overseas must submit all visa
applications to the Directorate General of Immigration in Jakarta
to be checked thoroughly before approval is granting, Zaiman
said.

"The bottom line is that now we are becoming stricter with
comings and goings in this country.

"We have no choice but to tighten supervision and control on
expatriates. It will not mean that we're going to tail them and
monitor their activities. It's just that we don't want them to
break the laws here." (edt)