Surabaya targets 400,000 expats

Surabaya targets 400,000 expats

Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

About 400,000 foreigners living in the East Java capital,
Surabaya, have failed to fulfill documentation requirements
except for birth certificates, even though they have been living
here for decades and have raised families from their marriages
with locals.

Provincial population office head A. Hartojo said the local
administration would likely find difficulties in providing
adequate services for the unregistered foreigners.

But on the other hand, it was impossible to deport them
because they had been living in the town for decades, he added.

Most of the unregistered foreigners stay in Kembang Jepun and
Ampel.

"Surabaya has long faced social problems, including
difficulties in providing services for its residents. In order to
prevent other problems with public services in the future, we ask
the foreigners to contact the local office to apply for their
documents," Hartojo said.

Surabaya is the second-largest city in Indonesia after
Jakarta. It is home to around five million people, but only 2.6
million are registered at the municipal office. The remaining
three million are not recorded.

"Population-related problems have been rife because the making
of blueprints for development planning has been based on the
population that is officially registered at the office," Hartojo
said.

Indonesia, home to some 220 million people, has difficulties
in detecting the presence of foreigners due to poor monitoring by
police and other relevant authorities.

The awareness on population registration has only increased
following warnings on threats of transnational crimes, such as
terrorism and people-trafficking, and increasing problems on
foreigners seeking asylum.

For example, in a recent operation targeting foreigners in the
East Kalimantan capital, Samarinda, 52 foreigners were netted in
a raid for failure to produce work permits and temporary identity
cards.

The raid was carried out jointly by the local police,
immigration office, manpower and transmigration office and the
military.

Data from the Balikpapan immigration office shows that about
1,600 foreigners work in the city. Most come from Australia, the
United States and France.

Earlier, Papua Police also arrested two Pakistani nationals.
They were charged with possessing and circulating counterfeit
money.