Silmy, the former president director of PT Krakatau Steel and the first businessman to occupy the office, has been asked to cut the bureaucratic red tape in immigration services.

At Wednesday’s inauguration ceremony, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly said the immigration office was facing increasingly “dynamic and demanding” challenges that came with the relaxation of global travel restrictions.

To this end, Yasonna asked Silmy to carry on with the work of his predecessor, Widodo Ekatjahjana, who held the position on an interim basis, by making immigration services more speedy to attract more foreign investors and travelers.

“There have been many breakthroughs, many innovations that we have done, such as the e-visa, the [mobile] passport […] and what we hope to be our icon: the second home visa,” Yasonna said. 

“[The immigration office] has done very well. But we need to keep moving forward and making new innovations.”

These would include digitizing immigration services, increasing collaboration with other ministries and agencies, building the capacity of immigration officers and stamping out illegal levies.

Silmy was also tasked with developing new and ongoing immigration policies, including the second home visa launched in November 2022 and the potential “Golden Visa” program, which would grant foreigners Indonesian residency in return for investment. 

Speaking at the inauguration, Silmy said he would bring innovation to public services and improve the law enforcement aspects of the immigration office.

“The immigration [office] is the face of Indonesia,” he said. “I look forward to working together, hand-in-hand, to make immigration [services] better.”

Read also: Govt launches Second Home Visa for global investors, retirement visa holders not impacted 

Businessman-turned-bureaucrat

Forty-eight-year-old Silmy started his career as an expert in the field of national defense before becoming a fixer-upper of state-owned enterprises. 

He was a commissioner of state-owned ship maker PT Pal Indonesia in 2011, before being appointed president director of state weapons manufacturer PT Pindad in 2014 and state foundry company PT Barata Indonesia in 2016.

Most recently, Silmy worked as president director of state-owned metal maker Krakatau Steel, which netted a 38 percent year-on-year profit in the third quarter of 2022.

Commenting on Silmy’s track record, Yasonna said it was the President’s intention to hand the reins of the immigration office to a “non-civil servant”.

“We have tried [immigration directors general] from the National Police, the [Indonesian Military (TNI)], a prosecutor, a professor, as well as [someone] internal [to the government]. Now, it’s time we give the chance to a non-civil servant,” Yasonna said.

He was referring to an instruction from Jokowi in September, when the President called for a personnel change after slamming the immigration office over the problematic implementation of the visa on arrival and temporary stay permit (KITAS) programs.

“There must be total changes. If necessary, change the [immigration] director general and replace all the subordinates,” Jokowi said at the time.

Silmy’s new office adds to the list of businessmen and private-sector workers Jokowi has turned to to address strategic issues.

The President previously appointed seasoned banker Budi Gunadi Sadikin to replace Agus Terawan Putranto as Health Minister in late 2020 and installed businessmen Erick Thohir and Nadiem Makarim as Cabinet members during his second presidential term.

As Indonesia eased travel restrictions last year, the government began introducing changes to its immigration policies, including expanding its visa on arrival to dozens of countries in May as well as digitizing the visa and passport application processes, all in a bid to help the pandemic-battered tourism sector, and economy at large, recover.

These changes, according to Yasonna, resulted in the immigration office contributing a record-breaking Rp 4.6 trillion in non-tax revenue (PNBP) to state coffers in 2022.

But the office has also been plagued with problems, including some Indonesian nationals being denied entry to Germany over missing signatures on their passports.

Read also: Russia, Ukraine among additions to visa on arrival list