•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

There is an old local saying that bureaucrats will always turn something simple into something complicated. The Indonesian Immigration Office will do the opposite — for a little under-the-table money.

The office has long been considered one of the country’s most corrupt institutions, raking in millions of rupiah in bribes each day, particularly through its passport issuance service.

As part of efforts to shed its bad image, the office in 2006 implemented a biometric system, which uses electronic identification technology, aimed at making passport issuance more efficient, and to reduce opportunities for bribery and fixers.

However, Transparency International Indonesia believes that the new system is not much better than the previous manual one and is unlikely to deter officers from receiving bribes.

Teten Masduki, the watchdog’s general secretary, said that according to a 2008 bribery index survey released in January, the immigration office remained among the most corrupt public institutions in the country.

“Immigration offices are third on the list of the most corrupt public institutions, after the police in first place and customs in second,” Teten said.

Under both the old and new systems, applicants have to go to the immigration office three times over six working days to obtain a passport: once to fill in forms and submit required documents; again to pay the fees, have photographs and fingerprints taken and sit through an interview; and yet again to pick up the passport. After this long process, the passport should cost Rp 270,000 ($26).

However, a passport can be ready in just a few hours for a total payment of Rp 500,000, or Rp 2 million if a fixer is involved.

Anyone wishing to apply for a passport at an immigration office in Jakarta has to buy the application forms, which technically should be free. Prices vary among the offices — the North Jakarta office charges the highest price, Rp 15,000, with a Rp 6,000 official stamp and a paper envelope thrown in for free. At the East Jakarta office, the forms are sold with a paper envelope for Rp 5,000 by a privately run photocopy kiosk, while in South Jakarta, it costs Rp 7,500.

After filling out the forms, applicants have to present both the original and copies of several documents — their ID card, family card, birth certificate, education certificate, a letter of recommendation from an employer and, when applicable, a marriage certificate or an official document confirming a name change. The originals are returned after they are checked with the copies.

If you happen to look even slightly confused or lost, someone will quickly come to the rescue and kindly offer to take care of your application — for a fee, of course. Those fixers are not in short supply in any immigration office, except for the North Jakarta office, where local staff are supposedly more “helpful.” Applicants can be “helped” by immigration staff if they ask politely, and a veiled conversation will take place to determine how much should be paid to expedite the process.

A cashier at the North Jakarta immigration office was seen recently helping a lady who could not produce her original family card for an additional Rp 200,000. Another applicant who was missing two original documents managed to bargain down the Rp 500,000 fee to a sum that will only ever be known to him and the cashier.

“You have two documents missing; it’s Rp 250,000 for each,” whispered the cashier, who also sells the set of application forms for Rp 15,000. After engaging in hushed conversations, the cashier then gave him her cellphone number and said, “Call me at lunchtime.”

Later, another staff member at the front desk was on her cellphone to tell the man that his passport was ready, also offering to have the passport delivered, again for a fee.

At immigration offices elsewhere in town, fixers take the lead, waiting for their prey in the parking lot.

Rudi, a handsome man in his early 40s, singled out a couple arriving at the East Jakarta immigration office, and rather aggressively offered his service, standing right in front of large banners warning people not to use fixers.

“They agree to pay Rp 1.5 million for both,” Rudi said after the couple had left, adding that their passports would be ready in three days.

Only Rp 200,000 would find its way into his pockets. “The rest will be paid to insiders,” he said, referring to the immigration staff.

Meanwhile, Rina, 28, a bank employee seen at the South Jakarta immigration office, opted to use the services of an agency, which for Rp 500,000 would deliver the passport when it is done. She only needed to go to the immigration office once, to be photographed and have her fingerprints taken.

“The passport will be done in one week. Yes, it is not shorter than if I did it myself, but I don’t have much time to come into the office. So Rp 500,000 is worth it, I guess,” Rina said, adding that she only needed to ask for an absence of two hours from her manager on that day.

The West Jakarta Immigration Office handles an average of 150 passport applications a day, said a staff member, who declined to be named. Assuming that half of those applicants used the help of fixers or agencies, one immigration office would receive Rp 17.25 million a day in extra “fees.”

Basyir Ahmad Barmawi, director general of immigration, did not answer calls or reply to text messages asking him to comment on bribery and fixers at immigration offices.

However, he told reporters in a recent interview that he would examine Transparency International’s findings.