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span class="caption" style="width: 378px;">Kompas.comJakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto has dismissed allegations made by Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Sjamsuddin that the police overreacted in arresting Rochadi Iman Santoso, the immigration office chief at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

“Rochadi was arrested after careful consideration and deliberation by police investigators handling the case,” Rikwanto told The Jakarta Post on Monday. He refused to disclose what the considerations and deliberations might have been.

The police arrested Rochadi on Friday for allegedly forging travel documents. He has been charged with document forgery under the Criminal Code and may face up to six years’ imprisonment if found guilty.

The Civil Code stipulates that investigators have the right to arrest a suspect if they are concerned that he or she will run away, destroy evidence, or repeat the criminal act.

A suspect in cases that carry a penalty of more than five years’ imprisonment is also eligible for detention. “The public must rest assured that the arrest was done in accordance with procedures and regulations,” Rikwanto said.

Earlier in the day, Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin said that he regretted the way the police handled Rochadi’s case, saying that the arrest was completely unnecessary.

“In my opinion, [the arrest] shouldn’t have happened as [Rochadi] had been very cooperative throughout the investigation,” Amir said, as quoted by online news portal kompas.com.

According to Amir, the police should have verified all allegations against Rochadi before deciding whether to detain him or not.

“[The allegations] should be cross-checked first with many parties both here in Indonesia and abroad. This will undoubtedly take time and must be done thoroughly and carefully,” the senior Democratic Party politician said.

However, Amir asserted that his ministry would not intervene with Rochadi’s ongoing legal process. “As a minister, I will respect the legal process and won’t try to influence it in any way.”

Rochadi was arrested on Friday by detectives from the Jakarta Police state security sub-directorate for allegedly issuing a fake travel document for Singaporean Toh Ke Ngsiong.

The document stated that Toh arrived in Indonesia on Aug. 5, 2009, on Tiger Airways and departed on Aug. 6, 2009, on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

Toh allegedly used the document in a legal case involving Toh and local company PT Makindo, which questioned the authenticity of the letter and reported it to the police.

Upon checking with the Law and Human Rights Ministry, investigators discovered that the document was not genuine. Rochadi’s arrest was among the first stern actions taken against what critics have called unscrupulous immigration officials.

Rochadi reportedly told the police during questioning that what happened was just a data entry error rather than an act of forgery.

“He told us that the mistake was made by his subordinate, identified as A, who is currently studying in Australia,” Rikwanto said.

He refused to comment on whether Toh’s lawyers can be named suspects in the case, if they were found to be fully aware of the forgery. “Let’s just say that we’ll investigate this case thoroughly and will investigate the involvement of certain people in it.”