Immigration Probes Foreign National for Alleged Bribery at Airport

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Minister of and Corrections, Agus Andrianto, confirmed that a Chinese national who was seen in a viral video slipping money into his passport to easily pass the checkpoint at Soekarno-Hatta Airport is under investigation.

“He has not been arrested, but is being held for questioning,” Minister Agus said following a coordination meeting at the Immigration Building in South Jakarta on Tuesday. “Further details will be released soon.”

Based on the preliminary investigations, the money was intended to pay for a visa on arrival, which is obtained directly at the immigration checkpoint. “This clearly means that this person is playing around. I have also heard that he created similar content involving traffic police,” Agus explained.

He added that his side was still investigating whether the Chinese national produced similar content in other countries and is working to determine his motives for these actions. “If his intention was to embarrass our country, I don’t think Indonesia needs people like that,” he said.

Previously, a video depicting the Chinese man displaying five 100,000 Rupiah bills within his passport went viral on social media, raising concerns about potential extortion by airport officials.

The Chinese national subsequently issued an apology and provided clarification through a video posted on his account, @Stellar-optics888, on Monday, January 20. He explained that the money was indeed meant for the visa fee and denied any wrongdoing by the Indonesian officials.

“The video has continuously generated public opinion in Indonesia,” the Chinese national said in the video. “I apologize for this incident and have provided a full explanation.”

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