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Prabowo Subianto

President of Indonesia since October 2024; dismissed the deputy immigration minister over bribery allegations in June 2026.

Last refreshed: 14 June 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic

Key Question

Will Prabowo's clean-up of the immigration ministry restore trust in Indonesia's permit system for foreign nationals?

Timeline for Prabowo Subianto

#8 22 Jun

Dismissed Silmy Karim on 4 June 2026 and named no replacement as of 23 June

Nomads & Communities: Graft case leaves permit office headless

#7 4 Jun

Indonesia's permit ministry loses its deputy

Nomads & Communities

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Background

Prabowo Subianto is President of Indonesia, having taken office in October 2024 after winning the presidential election. On 4 June 2026 he dismissed Indonesia's deputy immigration and corrections minister, Silmy Karim, eight days after the anti-corruption commission KPK arrested Karim along with 16 others in a permit-extortion sting at the West Jakarta immigration office. The KPK alleges a scheme running from 2022 to 2026 that extracted approximately Rp 145.5 billion (USD 7.8 million) from foreign nationals.

Prabowo served as Indonesia's Minister of Defence from 2019 to 2024 under his predecessor Joko Widodo and ran for president twice before winning in 2024. His administration has positioned immigration as a revenue and enforcement instrument: the E33G digital nomad Visa income threshold was raised to USD 60,000 per year, a 100-person Bali enforcement task force was deployed, and immigration data was synchronised with the Directorate General of Taxes.

The Silmy Karim arrest exposes a contradiction at the heart of that posture: the same ministry running high-profile foreign-national enforcement was simultaneously alleged to be extracting bribes from the same population it was policing. As of June 2026, no successor to Karim had been named and minister Agus Andrianto was covering daily operations.

Common Questions

Why did Indonesia's president dismiss the deputy immigration minister in 2026?

President Prabowo Subianto dismissed Silmy Karim on 4 June 2026, eight days after the KPK arrested him over an alleged permit-extortion scheme that extracted approximately USD 7.8 million from foreign nationals at a West Jakarta immigration office between 2022 and 2026.Source: event

Who is Prabowo Subianto?

Prabowo Subianto is the President of Indonesia, in office since October 2024. He previously served as Minister of Defence under Joko Widodo from 2019 to 2024 and ran for president twice before his successful 2024 campaign.

What is Indonesia's immigration policy under Prabowo?

Prabowo's administration raised the E33G digital nomad Visa income threshold to USD 60,000 per year, deployed a 100-person Bali immigration enforcement task force, and synchronised immigration data with the tax authority.Source: event

How the World Sees Them

Indonesia

Prabowo's dismissal of Karim signals willingness to act on corruption findings, but the vacancy at the top of the permit apparatus creates short-term uncertainty for KITAS and KITAP processing.

KPK (anti-corruption)

The sting was the commission's most high-profile immigration-sector operation, implicating a deputy minister and 16 others across public and private channels.

Foreign nationals and nomads

The arrest and dismissal reveal that the same enforcement apparatus targeting irregular foreign workers was itself extracting bribes; the reform's credibility depends on what systemic changes follow.