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New immigration chief told to streamline services
Silmy Karim, a businessman with a track record of restructuring ailing state-owned enterprises, was inaugurated on Wednesday as the country’s new immigration director general.
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An official processes a passport application at the Central Jakarta Immigration Office. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
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ilmy Karim, a businessman with a track record of restructuring ailing state-owned enterprises, was inaugurated on Wednesday as the country’s new immigration director general, as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo looks to foreign investment to fuel the country’s economic recovery.
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.
