Top officials from Bali Airport have issued apologies to the public following an extortion scandal.
Last week five officers from the Ngurah Rai Immigration Post at Bali Airport were arrested for taking money from tourists to use the fast-track queue upon arrival.
During a stakeholder meeting held on Sunday 19th November the Head of the Ngurah Rai Immigration Office, Suhendra, addressed airport management teams on how to establish greater safeguards and systems to ensure that Bali Airport remains a corruption-free zone.
All the major stakeholders were present for the conference, including the Bali Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Immigration Customs, Quarantine, Region IV Airport Authority, Ngurah Rai Air Force Base, GM Angkasa Pura I, Airport Area Police, and the Bali Provincial Government Protocol Bureau.
Suhendra shared his deepest apologies with the public, especially the Balinese people for transiting the good name of I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport. He said, “As the Head of the Ngurah Rai Immigration Office, I would like to apologize to the public for this incident.”
He continued “And we are fully committed to taking comprehensive and sustainable improvement steps in the future in order to provide the best service to the community.”
He added “We and the relevant stakeholders in this meeting agreed to maintain the sterilization of the immigration area.”
“Apart from that, various discussions in this meeting will also be brought to the Facilitation Coordination Meeting (FAL) forum which will be held by the Airport Authority for further handling,”
Suhendra revealed, “The investigation process is still ongoing, in principle, we are following all ongoing legal processes, and internally we will also impose sanctions on the officers involved.”
Moving forward, I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport will be doing more to ensure that queue times are reduced so as to reduce the temptation for officers and tourists to pay their way through the fast track queue that is dedicated for use by VIPs, those with additional needs, the elders and pregnant.
Suhendra is excited about the installation of the 90 new auto gates at Bali Airport, 30 of which will be in place by the end go the year. The automated technology will not be replacing staffed counters but will be managing in addition to fully staffed counters at all times.
He explained “With autogates, all passengers will be required to use autogate during the immigration inspection process. This will make the inspection process run faster and more accurately.”
By the end of the installation process, 60 automates will be installed in the arrivals halls and a further 30 in the international departures terminal.
Suhendra and airport management teams also want to see tourists make better use of the e-VOA process.
This e-Visa on Arrival system allows tourists to apply, pay for, and acquire their 30-day visa on arrival before they touch down in Bali.
The system is quick and easy to follow online, however, tourists have been repeatedly urged to be careful of counterfeit sites. There is only one official e-VOA site for Indonesian visas and that is https://molina.imigrasi.go.id/
This is the same site that can be used to apply for all kinds of visitors and socio-cultural visas, pre-investment visas, second home visas, and the Golden Visa.
It is now the case that tourists can apply for the eVOA for up to five travelers at a time, on the same application; ideal for families and friends traveling together over the festive season.
More tourists using the eVOA service will help travelers cut down their time spent in arrivals dramatically.
Currently, tourists paying for the visa on arrival must queue to pay their IDR 500,000 visa fee, and then move to the immigration queue to be stamped into Indonesia. The e-VOA helps tourists skip the step and makes it quicker for immigration officers to stamp them in.
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Robert Fisher
Wednesday 22nd of November 2023
Extortion at airport has been going on for decades, surprisingly just getting noticed now ???? The traffic stops should get investigated also I must have paid those corrupt officers over $500 over the years. All Bali government officials should be monitored and brought to justice if they abuse their positions worst offenders 1 Airport 2 immigration 3 Traffic stops Bali authorities have been denying this goes on for years😂😂.
Richard Fleury
Wednesday 29th of November 2023
@Robert Fisher, sir I agree with your first 3, please and Banjar and Siloam Hospital to your list. Love Indonesia, but there is a big need in Bali to be proactive and stop to the mafia type antics.
I’ve been in Malang 1 year now and it’s like heaven compared to Bali. Problem solved. 😀
Exp
Tuesday 21st of November 2023
Quote "We and the relevant stakeholders in this meeting agreed to maintain the sterilization of the immigration area".
Has the airport allowed other than airport staff inside the immigration area? This is surely a security risk. All passengers are getting their luggage and walking through customs, so what can happen with outside (not security cleared) people roaming the same area? This is just crazy.
Dan
Tuesday 21st of November 2023
Oh this is shocking news. Absolutely devastating!
We all know this has been going on for year and at some point have paid ourselves to skip the queues.
This really is no shock to anyone I am sure
Karen
Tuesday 21st of November 2023
Years ago, prior to having the disabled/seniors line, we paid for this "service" because my husband couldnt stand in i line of 3 plane load arrivals. Our choice, no one forced us. So no appology needed, we had chosen to pay to advance. Didnt help that immigration was so fast but the luggage took over an hour. But now we are in the Kitas and over 60's lane and luggage comes quickly. Thankyou Bali Airport.
Robert Fisher
Wednesday 22nd of November 2023
@Karen, you don’t realize it is not a service it is a scam from a government employee, so apology required full stop no excuses for criminal behavior.