The tragic event on September 11th 2001 in the United States has raised the need for comprehensive security to avoid a similar incident. It was argued at that time that the airport's security was bad, which made people believe one of the preventive actions was to create strict regulations in the airport. The emphasis on security indeed makes the screening process in the airports take more time. The introduction of the Advance Passenger Information System in developed countries has solved this problem. This trend urges the Indonesian Government to implement this system. However, some people oppose this idea because they believe Indonesia is not yet ready due to a lack of funds. This essay will explain the challenges of implementing this program and the benefits that could be gained after the full implementation. It is suggested that the Advance Passenger Information System should be implemented because it will smoothen immigration clearance at Indonesian Airports.
Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) is a system where private aircraft and Border Control Agencies will exchange information about passengers before they depart or enter a certain country. This system forms an initial passenger screening before boarding the plane and will strengthen border security. This system is already mentioned in the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 6 of 2011 concerning Immigration, one of the laws controlling the Indonesian Border that focuses on people's movement. Article 9, clause 1 in this law explains, “every people who enter or exit the Indonesian Territory shall be obliged to pass through a check conducted by the Immigration Officer at Immigration Checkpoint Venue”. This law states that Immigration Officers should conduct immigration clearance at Immigration Checkpoint.
Furthermore, the obligation of the owner of transportation, which in this case is an aircraft, is stated in article 17 in the Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 31 of 2013 concerning Implementing Regulation of Act number 6 of 2011 concerning Immigration. It is stated that the person in charge of the conveyance must inform Immigration Officer about the schedule, crew and passenger list before entering or leaving the Indonesian Territory. However, the Indonesian Directorate General of Immigration currently implements a manual procedure that requires people to wait for more than 20 minutes before entering the Indonesian Territory. Ridwan Arifin concludes that the Indonesian Directorate General of Immigration has not implemented the Advance Passenger Information System (Arifin, 2020) even though it is already stated in the law. The Indonesian Government still considers that implementing this system will be expensive and could not be afforded by Indonesian Immigration.
Installing the Advance Passenger Processing System will require much money that will cost the Indonesian Government, specifically the Directorate General of Immigration (DGI). There are four things that the Indonesian DGI must allocate for implementing this system (WCO et al., 2014). Firstly, DGI must create a single database for all border agencies. This single database could become a place where all passengers' information will be stored, so the Border Control Agencies could easily access the database, which consequently can be used according to their function and duty. Secondly, since every border agency has its own system, there will be an additional cost to share data in the system because the data in the single database must be converted to a certain format that could be used and analysed by each agency. Thirdly, Border Agencies must provide an MRTD (Machine Readable Travel Document) for the aircraft that can scan the passengers’ travel documents that the system can easily recognise. Finally, additional annual funding will be needed to maintain and upgrade the system. These budget allocations will become the most challenging factor in implementing the Advance Passenger Information System specifically for the Indonesian Government, which has not allocated a sufficient budget for border control. However, according to the International Civil Association Organization, the Government of Indonesia could use aid from other states or organisations as the major funding to implement this project. This document explains three options for the Government to seek aid, but the Indonesian Government could use two alternatives because the third choice is intended for European Countries (ICAO, 2018). The first alternative is that the Indonesian Directorate General of Immigration could launch a ‘Global Travel Assessment System (GTAS)’ partnering with the World Customs Organization (WCO). This existing passenger screening system will allow DGI to utilise the advanced passenger processing system after completing the procedure. The second option is that DGI could create an ‘Automated Targeting System – Global (ATS-G) Program’ after cooperating with US Customs and Border Protection. This software is also free.
It is argued that implementing Advance Passenger Information System will cost border agencies (Government) and carriers (airlines) (WCO et al., 2014). The expense to carriers is linked with the integration and development of the system. The aircraft operator will need to hire more staff to input passenger details into the system. The passenger data will then be sent to the national authority in the destination country. The cost of this data transmission will also be charged for each flight. However, according to ICAO International Standards and Recommended Practices Annex 9, it is stated, “If a Contracting State requires API data interchange, then it shall seek, to the greatest extent possible, to limit the operational and administrative burdens on aircraft operators, while enhancing passenger facilitation” (ICAO, 2017). The Indonesian Government must provide all the costs because the system development and data transmission should not be the airlines' responsibility. Implementing the Advance Passenger Information System will benefit the airlines because it will improve their security and avoid the problem that will emerge from illegal entrants. The system will inform the Border Agencies about potential unlawful persons then give the sign to the airlines ‘board / do not board’. This warning will forbid the plane to take the undocumented passenger to arrive at the destination country. The illegal entrants who arrive in the destination country will be detained and removed, which will give the airlines additional costs. Therefore, the airline could avoid this additional associated cost as well as the penalties also charged by certain countries such as Australia (AUD 2,220 per offence) (Australian Border Force, n.d.).
Almost every country adopts a selective policy as the focus of their immigration policy. All people who want to enter the country must be assessed whether they will give benefit or not to the country. Therefore, it is suggested that border control authorities, specifically immigration agencies, must identify the traveller and make a risk assessment before allowing a person to enter the country. Implementing the Advance Passenger Information System will cut the time required to conduct immigration clearance. Chanyoung Lee (2016), in his article ‘A Benefit-Cost Analysis of Korea’s “Advance Passenger Information System,” calculates the benefits that will be gained from implementing Advance Passenger Information System. Lee tries to measure the time and money that has been saved after Korea implemented this system in 2015. Lee assumes (Lee, 2016) that the APIS in Korea has saved almost 20 minutes for each targeted passenger. He calculated and divided the saved time into two different categories. The first category is the category of ‘no-boarding’ sign which estimated that the total time saved during the check-in process was almost 10,345 hours in 2015. Then the next category is the category of ‘boarding’ sign which is estimated that the total saved time reached up to 31,035 hours in 2015. In summarising this estimated calculation, Lee states, “the Korean departure API system (iAPP) makes contribution to saving 41,380 hours waiting time for all departure passengers in 2015” (Lee, 2016). This calculation will give the Indonesia Directorate General of Immigration the estimated time that could be cut after implementing the Advance Passenger Information System.
Lee (2016) then calculates the monetary value as another benefit of the Advance Passenger Information System. This calculation will directly hit the main argument of those who oppose implementing this system which focuses on the budget. He tried to calculate the money that would be gained by saving time. Referring to US department of transportation guidelines, he uses airline compensation as a base for measuring the money that could be saved. Then, he assumes, “If we apply '10% compensation rule' above to our case, total values of saved time with the help of the iAPP reach up to $620,700(41,380 * $15 =$620,700)” (Lee, 2016). He also assumes that the passengers will miss their flight due to travel document problems. He then calculated that it would avoid the cost of up to $290,900. The total that could be saved in 2015 was up to $911,600. Another interesting assumption in Lee’s article relates to the penalty that will cost the aircraft operators. Based on Lee’s data on passengers in the Korea International Airport transit area, 37 passengers were detected as illegal entrants (Lee, 2016). If they planned to go to Australia, the total cost that airlines could save was AUD 82,140 (37 * AUD 2,220). Therefore, the full implementation of APIS will save additional costs due to the immigration process. Even though this additional cost is just an assumption, it will indeed make the Indonesian Immigration Clearance one of the airport's best services.
In conclusion, the Indonesian Government, specifically the Directorate General of Immigration, should implement the Advance Passenger Information System to smoothen immigration clearance at the airport. The main challenge of this system is the huge amount of funds required to implement it. However, the Indonesian Government could use another alternative by seeking aid from other countries or organisations. It is argued that after implementing this system, the Indonesian Directorate General of Immigration will benefit in two ways: cutting a long-clearance time and avoiding the additional cost related to immigration clearance. Although only two benefits have been examined in this essay, other benefits will become more interesting, particularly the security advantage that the Government will have by implementing APIS or creating a cheap and comprehensive system for Immigration Clearance.
*nb: This essay is one of final assignments for PDT Australia Awards Scholarship
Bibliography
Arifin, R. (2020). Assessing Border Control Management of Immigration Control at Airports in Indonesia_A Theoretical and Empirical Study.
