Monitoring Foreign Nationals in Indonesia is Essential, Says Govt Official

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Home Affairs Ministry director general of politics and general government, Bahtiar, in a seminar on foreign monitoring Tuesday said the activities of foreign nationals and organizations in Indonesia are being monitored to ensure they are acting for the benefit of the country.

The main argument behind his statement, Antaranews reported, is that violations, abuse of permits, conflicts, and negative political news coverage by foreign media continues to take place. 

“It is to ensure that these foreigners are contributing during their stay in Indonesia,” Bahtiar wrote in a statement on Tuesday, August 3. “Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic we collectively see that the issue regarding legal and illegal foreign workers has created pros and cons and even hoaxes [related to it].”

He explained in the seminar that there needs to be preemptive measures to prevent, detect, and report potential issues as soon as possible. Bahtiar also called for stakeholders to commit to this together and involve members of the public. 

“Which means the monitoring cannot be exclusively done by just one institution only,” he said.

He then cited the Home Affairs Minister’s regulation No.49/2010 guideline overseeing this government activity upon monitoring foreign nationals during their stay in Indonesia. 

Read: Govt Issues Instructions on Covid-19 Level 4 PPKM in Java-Bali

ANTARA