TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - National Police deputy chief Gen. Syafruddin said that his institution has planned to reactivate the Foreign Nationals Supervision (POA) Task Force to watch migrant workers and foreigners entering Indonesia.
“Yes, the foreign nationals [supervision] task force [will be reactivated]. It’s a part of the National Police and operates under the Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Ministry supervision,” Syafruddin said after a coordination meeting at the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs in Jakarta on Friday, January 6, 2017.
Earlier, the task force was disbanded after an issuance of Law No. 6/2011 on immigration.
Syafruddin confirmed that the plan to reactivate the task force was related to recent findings of illegal migrant workers and foreign nationals with immigration issues.
“We want to take action against illegal activities. Illegal means committing crimes, fighting, assaulting, and others,” he added.
Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto confirmed the plan to reactivate the Foreign Nationals Supervision Task Force.
“Since it was disbanded, we no longer have a special agency to watch foreign nationals in Indonesia,” he said after the coordination meeting.
According to Wiranto, the government is currently formulating an appropriate system to watch troubled foreign nationals.
“We need to monitor them [foreign nationals] so that they won’t come to Indonesia with certain agenda, whether it’s terrorism, illegal migrant workers, or drug dealing,” he added.
Wiranto asserted that the government is committed to addressing the issues with illegal foreign nationals. However, he called on the public to be wise in filtering information related to illegal migrant workers. One of the rumors spreading among the public is illegal migrant workers from China who have taken advantage of Indonesia’s free visa policy.
YOHANES PASKALIS