TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
3 Singaporean military personnel banned from entering Indonesia
Change Size
Tighter monitoring: An immigration officer shows APOA, a mobile application people can use to report foreigners and non-procedural Indonesian workers during an event in Jakarta on April 12.
(Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
T
he Batam Immigration Office has included three Singaporean military personnel on its list of people barred from entering all areas of Indonesia for the next six months.
The entry ban was imposed because the three Singaporean military members could not show their passports during a passport check and instead showed their military ID cards to authorities, an immigration official said.
Batam Immigration Office head Teguh Prayitno said the three Singaporean military personnel, identified as Ashok Kumar, 22, Kanesan Gunasegaran, 22, and Sakthivel S., 23, had been deported from Indonesia after they were arrested at a pub in Kampung Bule in Batam, Riau Islands, early on April 23.
He said the Office later decided to include the three military personnel on its entry ban list.
“They were not infiltrators. They entered Batam legally. However, they could not show their passports during an immigration check, saying they left their passports at their hotel rooms,” Teguh said.
Six people were arrested during the security raid at the pub on April 23, three of whom were later identified as Singaporean military personnel. The three others were confirmed as navigation school students.
Teguh said the three Singaporean military personnel were deported after a 24-hour questioning session at the Batam Immigration Office.
During the April 23 operation, immigration officials netted 72 people, including 40 Indonesian citizens who could not show their resident identity cards. Meanwhile, 32 foreigners were arrested for failing to show either their passports or visas. (ebf)
