JAKARTA: Immigration authorities are investigating officers from Batam Immigration Office over reports that they have been extorting up to S$250 (US$194.50) from Asean passport holders in exchange for entry into Batam.
“Thank you for the information given. We apologize for the inconvenience,” head of the Batam Immigration Office information and communication section, Kharisma Rukmana, said in a written statement to The Jakarta Post on Thursday (March 26).
“Currently, the Immigration Directorate General’s Internal Compliance Directorate is studying and investigating the report.”
Batam Immigration Office head Hajar Aswad said that if the investigation found violations by officers, his office would take severe action against those perpetrators in accordance with the prevailing regulations.
“Batam Immigration Office is committed to zero tolerance of any form of illegal levies and will follow up all suspected violations in an objective and professional way,” he said.
Neither Kharisma nor Hajar, however, elaborated on how many Immigration officers were being questioned by the Internal Compliance Directorate, or whether the extortion reports could be verified by CCTV camera recordings at the port.
Reports of suspected extortion were first published by Singaporean online news channel Mothership.sg on Wednesday.
Two separate groups of tourists had similar experiences. A Singaporean identified only as AC recounted his experience when arriving in Batam on March 13. He and his partner moved to the autogate channel, which had a shorter line. Although they did not cut the line, an officer stopped and brought them to an interrogation room.
“The officer yelled, confiscated phones, intimidated and demanded a fine of S$100 per person,” AC told Mothership.sg.
After being detained for two hours, AC said he gave up and paid the “fine” in cash, which the officer supposedly added to a stack under a keyboard. AC said that he hoped that his story would serve as a "warning" to travellers to Batam.
A similar encounter greeted a Myanmar passport holder who works in Singapore, identified as Nay, who went to Batam with his elderly parents on March 14.
Nay got through the immigration checkpoint, but his parents were held back. A plain-clothed man asked Nay to pay S$150 per person claiming there were problems with their Malaysian visas. If they did not pay the fees, they would be deported back to Malaysia.
Nay and his parents had just entered Malaysia earlier in the morning without any problem. They had also previously visited Batam from Singapore.
"They had absolutely no authority to send us back to Malaysia," he claimed. Nay said initially he did not want to pay the fees but seeing that his elderly parents were already tired and their Airbnb had been paid for in full, he finally decided to pay the money demanded.
“I negotiated the fee to S$250. The man said S$200 was for immigration officers and S$50 was for himself,” Nay said, as quoted by Mothership.sg.
Batam Immigration Office provides official reporting channels for tourists or the public who have information on suspected violations.
Kharisma called on the public to lodge reports through the official channels, which include the email pengaduankanimbatam@gmail.com, WhatsApp number +628117002019 or direct message at Instagram account @imigrasibatam.
“We believe that all foreign tourists entering Indonesia are entitled to receive immigration services which are good, accountable and according to regulations,” Kharisma said.
These are not the first reports of extortion at Batam entry points. Several reviews on Google Maps and Tripadvisor.com show incidents experienced by foreign tourists from various countries, with the oldest report being published in October 2015.
Mothership.sg displayed two screenshots of tourists’ experiences upon arrival at Batam Center ferry terminal. One screenshot from Google Map, for example, tells the story of a visitor arriving at Batam Center ferry terminal on Feb. 14.
The visitor was detained for what a Batam Immigration officer described as a “spoiled passport” despite the tourist having just travelled internationally without any problems. The officer said he “couldn’t help” the tourist, who was referred to an “agent” giving three options: deportation back to Singapore, wait for hours or pay a fee to settle it.
The visitor, who claimed he visited Batam for charity work, said he was “robbed” of Rp 500,000 ($29.45) and the experience “makes me never want to step foot in Batam again”.
Meanwhile, the review on travel guidance platform Tripadvisor.com is more recent, telling the experience of a Philippine family arriving on Feb 21. The family all held long-term passes for Singapore, with the exception of the reviewer’s mother.
The Batam Immigration officer accused the family of extending the Singaporean visa of the reviewer’s mother.
“Why would Indonesian Immigration be concerned about Singapore’s ICA policies?” the reviewer asked. In the end, the reviewer paid S$150 as a “penalty” for “transiting” in Batam.
“This will likely be our last visit to Batam,” the reviewer concluded.
Alleged extortion by Batam Immigration officers is not only directed at foreign tourists but also at Indonesians who are detected making cross border trips from Batam to Malaysia to work. Such migrant workers report being required to pay between Rp 150,000 and Rp 250,000 for every crossing.
Despite there being autogates available, immigration officers frequently direct passengers going to Malaysia to manual checkpoint counters to determine the purpose of their trips, whether as tourists or cross-border workers without permits. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
