Holdups at Indonesian Immigration Will Ease Up: Officials

Jakarta Globe, Ary Adji, Dessy Sagita, Candra Malik & Made Arya Kencana, April 19, 2010

More than two weeks since the introduction of new immigration security measures at Indonesian airports, officials say they are pleased with progress, despite waiting times for incoming passengers of often longer than 90 minutes.

“Security checks will be done as humanely as possible,” Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday. Indonesia is the first Southeast Asian nation to apply sophisticated fingerprint and biometric scanners, he said.

Patrialis said documenting everyone coming into the country was necessary to identify known or potential criminals, adding that similar systems had long been in use in countries such as the United States, France and Japan.

The system, which reads the fingerprints of travelers with visitor visas and crosschecks them against a database of international fugitives and foreigners with deportation records, is initially being used at four airports. Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Adi Sumarmo in Solo and Adisucipto in Yogyakarta installed theirs two weeks ago, while Ngurah Rai in Bali will introduce the system this Thursday.

Maroloan Barimbing, spokesman for the ministry’s Directorate General of Immigration, said that within three years there would be 130 fingerprint and biometric scanners at the country’s international border points, including its 27 international airports.

Maroloan acknowledged that the unintended consequences included longer lines at immigration counters.

“In the first few weeks or even months after the system is applied, some adjustments will still be needed, and the officers in charge of the devices also need some time to adapt,” he said, adding that processing was getting better and faster.

In the system’s first few days at Soekarno-Hatta, arriving passengers reported waiting times in the stuffy arrivals hall of up to two hours, with officials observed pulling families with distressed babies or children out of lines into empty express channels after more than an hour.

But waiting times in the past week have apparently lessened and passengers are being understanding, said a spokesman for state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II. It had received no formal complaints, he added.

“It only took me few minutes, so it wasn’t an issue,” David Cheetam, a British tourist, said at Soekarno-Hatta on Sunday.

Belgian businessman Gregoir Francis said he also didn’t mind. “I know it’s for security,” he said.

Adi Sumarmo duty manager Edy Martono said each officer “only needs three minutes” to fingerprint a visitor. “Nothing to lose, and this need not be politicized,” he told the Globe.

But with lines often stretching to 50 or more people, an extra three minutes for many would add up to a long wait for those at the back.

Maroloan called for patience.

“By next year we will be able to perform faster and more professionally,” he said.