People walk with their luggage at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta. - Photo: Reuters
JAKARTA: Indonesia has removed dozens of immigration officers and launched an internal investigation after a leaked diplomatic letter from the Chinese embassy exposed allegations of systemic extortion at Jakarta’s main airport and reignited concerns over corruption in law enforcement.
The letter, dated January 21, appears to have been sent to Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and details how the embassy has “solved at least 44 cases of extortion” by immigration officials against Chinese nationals who arrived at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport between February of last year and January.
It says more than 32 million rupiah (US$1,950) in extortion money has been returned to more than 60 Chinese nationals.
“It is just a tip of the iceberg since many more Chinese nationals who were extorted did not file complaints due to tight schedules or fear of reprisals upon future entries,” the letter reads.
To alleviate the problem, the message asks Indonesian officials to put up “no tips” or “please report if there is extortion” signs in Chinese, Indonesian and English at all immigration checkpoints.
Chinese travel agencies were also advised to tell Chinese travellers not to “bribe the immigration officers”.
The letter, which went viral after it was shared online, also includes the names of the alleged extortion victims, who purportedly paid officials in amounts ranging from 50,000 rupiah to 1.6 million rupiah, sometimes more than once during entry and exit.
Ding Li, a spokesman with the Chinese embassy in Jakarta, neither confirmed nor denied the validity of the letter, telling This Week in Asia that he “so far does not have any information to provide”.
However, Minister of Immigration and Corrections Agus Andrianto confirmed to reporters on Sunday that the letter is legitimate and that he has “immediately dismissed and replaced around 30 [officials] whose names were mentioned in the [letter] from their posts at Soekarno Hatta airport.”
“Currently they are being investigated internally,” he said. “We will also take firm action if they are proven to have made a mistake.”
On Monday, the acting head of the immigration agency, Saffar Godam, said in a statement that no tipping signs in English, Chinese, and Arabic had been put up in “the busiest international airport and port crossings” across the country.
The agency has also installed 264 auto gates in five busy immigration checkpoints, including 98 at Soekarno-Hatta airport, “to minimise interactions between officers and travellers who possess electronic visas” and reduce the chances of extortion.
‘National disgrace’
The scandal has reignited public distrust towards Indonesian law enforcement, which is often accused of deep-rooted corruption.
“Considering that immigration officials at Soekarno-Hatta [airport] were immediately removed after this letter was issued, it means that if there is a problem with customs, robbery, etc, it is better to report it to the Chinese embassy than to the police. At least there is no need to give [money] to make a [police report],” Yohanes Sulaiman, a politics and security analyst with the University General Ahmad Yani in West Java, wrote on social media.
Another user pointed out that it took “harsh warnings and criticisms from other countries” to “fix and improve our government”.
Emerson Yuntho, an anti-corruption activist who first shared a screenshot of the letter on social media, said the case exemplified the unwritten rule of “no viral, no justice”, referring to how Indonesian officials often act only after a case gains widespread attention online.
In December, several Malaysians took to Instagram, claiming Jakarta police officers had blackmailed them during a dance music festival.
They alleged that officers accused them of drug use and demanded payment to avoid arrest. Their viral complaints led to 35 officers being fired or demoted from the National Police.
“[This should] encourage immigration to make improvements, because this is a national disgrace. This letter must be momentum to clean up corruption within immigration,” said Yuntho, a former researcher at the Indonesia Corruption Watch.
To regain the public’s trust, the immigration agency should also pursue criminal cases against these officials, he said.
“Usually the officials involved are only given warnings. We hope that they were not only given administrative sanctions, but also processed legally, as this is a corruption case. The officials accepted bribes or committed extortion,” Yuntho said.
Lawmaker TB Hasanuddin from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle said the case was “demeaning the good name of the Indonesian nation in the international world”.
"Immigration is the front gate of our country’s borders with other countries. Its function is to filter people who enter the country so that they do not have legal problems or threaten the country’s security when visiting. This is not an ordinary crime, but a crime against state security," he said.
Not the first time
Yuntho suggested that extortion against foreigners is likely to happen at other international airports outside of Jakarta.
In November 2023, five immigration officials at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport were arrested for charging ordinary travellers to use the fast track lane meant for elderly people, children, pregnant women and migrant workers.
Yuntho warned the practice could also harm foreign investment. “In Indonesia, the bureaucracy is not transparent, not accountable, and complicated. This encourages people to bribe to get business licences, otherwise their investments would be hampered,” he said.
“There is an adage that has emerged in investor circles, which is ‘they could be clean in their country, but when they enter Indonesia their hands would be dirty’.” - South China Morning Post
