Immigration Installs "No Tipping" Signs at Airports and Ports to Prevent Extortion

SEAToday.com, Jakarta - The Directorate General of Immigration, under the Ministry of Immigration and Correctional Affairs (Imipas), has installed "no tipping" signs at busy international airports and ports to prevent illegal levies (extortion).

"We have installed 'no tipping' signs in three languages, particularly at the busiest airport and port crossings," said Acting Director General of Immigration, Saffar M. Godam, in a message to ANTARA on Monday.

The Directorate General of Immigration is committed to eliminating extortion at immigration checkpoints. To achieve this, a team from the Directorate of Internal Compliance has been deployed to directly monitor Indonesia’s busiest immigration checkpoints.

Additionally, the Directorate General of Immigration has introduced a direct complaint system using a QR code available at every immigration counter. This allows the public to report any suspected misconduct through the designated channel.

To enhance efficiency and facilitate smoother crossings, immigration services are also being increasingly digitized, including the use of electronic visas via autogate systems. This digitalization minimizes direct interactions between officers and travelers, which is expected to reduce potential abuses of power.

Godam explained that the Directorate General of Immigration has installed 264 autogates across five major immigration checkpoints. At Soekarno-Hatta International Airport alone, 98 autogates have already been set up.

"The plan is to optimize these systems across all immigration checkpoints in Indonesia," he added.

Previously, an official letter from the Embassy of China to Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs surfaced, addressing cases of extortion involving Chinese nationals at Indonesian airports. The letter, dated January 21, 2025, detailed these concerns.

With the assistance of the Consular Directorate of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chinese Embassy coordinated closely with the Jakarta International Airport Immigration Office to resolve these extortion cases.

According to the embassy, at least 44 extortion cases had been handled, resulting in the return of approximately IDR 32,750,000 to more than 60 Chinese nationals.

In response, Minister of Immigration and Correctional Affairs, Agus Andrianto, stated that around 30 immigration officials at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport had been dismissed and were undergoing internal investigations by the ministry.

"Once we received all the data, we immediately reassigned all officers listed in the report from their posts at Soekarno-Hatta. We replaced them," Agus said in a statement on Sunday (2/2).

1 SELENGKAPNYA