Business Actors In Raja Ampat Confess To The KPK Regarding Unscrupulous Extortion Of Up To IDR 1 Million

Head of the Korsup Region V KPK Task Force Dian Patria (DOK VOI/Tasya)

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) received reports of people around Raja Ampat, Papua, withdrawing illegal levies on tourists who want to go to diving locations. The nominal varies from Rp. 100,000 to Rp. 1 million per ship that comes. This report was submitted by business actors to the Head of the Korsup Task Force Region V KPK Dian Patria while traveling around the Raja Ampat Islands, Southwest Papua. " “ In the Wayak area itself, at least 50 ships come, so the potential income from this illegal levy reaches IDR 50 million per day and IDR 18.25 billion per year," Dian explained as quoted from his written statement, Monday, July 8. Dian also said that there were people who withdrew extortion in the form of payment of land to hotels that were standing on the island and unclear regulations related to hotel waste management. Thus, the anti-corruption commission asked the district government to solve the existing problems. "“KPK continues to encourage the Raja Ampat Regency Government to immediately resolve this issue by coordinating with law enforcement officials and the local community," he said. Meanwhile, the Regional Secretary (Sekda) of the Raja Ampat Regency Government, Yusuf Salim, said that his party immediately cleaned up after receiving assistance from the KPK. The hope is that in the future the private sector will pay taxes regularly. "Business actors or the private sector see that we are also supervised by other institutions. So that the presence of the KPK can encourage the optimization of more effective regional taxes and levies," Yusuf said in this surprise.

"We also admit that the local government has not maximized natural resources in Southwest Papua, thus triggering business actors to ignore it," he concluded.