T

he Batam District Court on Thursday sentenced Singaporean Teo Boon Tiak, 69, to a year’s imprisonment and a fine of Rp 10 million for falsifying his identity to get an Indonesian passport.

The sentence was more lenient than demanded by the prosecutors who wanted 18 months in prison.

Reading out the verdict, presiding judge Endi Nurindra Putra said it was convincingly proven Teo had falsified a number of documents including a birth certificate and identity card to get an Indonesian passport.

“The defendant is declared guilty [...] We ask him to consider this verdict,” said Endi, adding that the sentence was made in consideration of his old age, his prior clean record and his confession.

Responding, Teo who was accompanied by a Mandarin-speaking interpreter without a lawyer promptly said he accepted the verdict.

“He accepted the verdict, Mr. Judge, but said that if possible the sentence is lessened,” the interpreter said, which was promptly greeted with laughter from the audience.

The case was discovered by immigration officers when Teo attempted to discard his Singaporean ID card in a toilet during immigration processing when he was attempting to return to Singapore in February through Sekupang seaport, Batam. His name under his falsified Indonesian passport was Tommy from Medan, North Sumatra.