Indonesia's anti-corruption agency arrested eight senior immigration officials — including the then-deputy minister — along with nine visa brokers, after investigators concluded they had been systematically extorting foreigners seeking to live and work in the country. The scheme, which ran from 2022 to 2026, collected the equivalent of eight million US dollars in unofficial surcharges at immigration counters, a figure that suggests the operation was less a rogue side hustle and more a parallel revenue service.

Analysts described public-sector corruption in Indonesia as an open secret, which is the diplomatic way of saying everyone knew and nobody stopped it. The arrests come at a particularly awkward moment: the government has been loudly marketing itself as a destination for foreign talent and investment, a pitch that is somewhat undercut by revelations that the welcome mat was accompanied by a toll booth. The Corruption Eradication Commission, known locally as the KPK, framed the extortion as systemic — a word that, in corruption reporting, typically means the boss knew.