The Indonesian state's flagship service caught up by its own stamps. The anti-corruption commission (KPK) is said to have detained Silmy Karim, deputy minister for immigration and corrections, in an alleged case of extortion and corruption over the issuing of residence permits to foreign nationals. In the wake of it, President Prabowo Subianto is said to have sacked him.

According to the KPK, the alleged network would have amounted to 145.5 billion rupiah (around $9 million). The mechanism? Foreigners seeking residence documents are said to have had to pay unofficial fees — estimated at 1 to 1.5 million rupiah per person — to speed up the handling of their file. A two-speed queue: one legal, one priced.

😏 The cynical take
Officially, the residence permit follows its administrative course. Unofficially, there was apparently a “skip-the-queue” option at 1.5 million rupiah. The bureaucracy didn't invent the tollbooth: it would just have installed it inside the counter.

100 million rupiah a week

The inquiry is said to go back to when Silmy Karim ran the Directorate General of Immigration, between 2023 and 2024. He is said to have taken a regular cut of the system: around 100 million rupiah (nearly $6,200) every week. A clockwork regularity that, if confirmed, would say a lot about the industrialisation of the scheme.

Karim would not be alone: eight people in all are said to have been named as suspects and detained, including the former acting director general of immigration, Saffar Muhammad Godam, and a director in charge of residence documents. The file thus goes beyond one man's case: it would target a whole chain of officials.

😏 The cynical take
A weekly payment, almost a second salary: where the amateur improvises, the alleged system would have had its own unofficial payslip. It is for the courts to say whether that regularity was routine… or proof.

A test for the KPK

For the Indonesian anti-corruption commission, the case is sensitive: it touches a member of the Prabowo government and a service — immigration — in daily contact with tens of thousands of foreigners. The president's swift sacking can be read as a wish to display firmness; it in no way prejudges the judicial outcome.

At this stage, no conviction has been handed down. Silmy Karim and the other suspects enjoy the presumption of innocence. It will fall to Indonesian justice to establish the reality of the payments and each person's responsibility in what looks, for now, like a clandestine tollbooth grafted onto a public service.

Key points

  • The KPK is said to have detained Silmy Karim, deputy immigration minister, later sacked by President Prabowo.
  • Alleged extortion network over residence permits estimated at 145.5bn IDR (~$9m).
  • Unofficial fees of 1 to 1.5m IDR per file; Karim is said to have taken ~100m IDR a week as immigration DG (2023-2024).
  • Eight suspects in all, including former acting DG Saffar Muhammad Godam.
  • No conviction at this stage. Presumption of innocence.

Magouilles & Compagnie verdict

Magouille or calomnie? There is a detention, a sacking and a scheme costed to the last million rupiah; there is no judgment yet. Holding verdict: an alleged $9-million skip-the-queue — justice will say whether the counter was really selling speed.