KPK Ends Allegations Of Extortion Of Retribution In Gili Tramena NTB

Illustration of extortion in the tourist areas of Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air (Tlomina), Lombok, NTB. (Tsa Tsia-VOI)

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has detected allegations of illegal levies (extortion) in Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air (Tloria) tourist areas. This finding was obtained when the KPK Region V Korsup provided assistance.

"We found allegations or anomalies in the management of levies in Gili Tramena. Initially, this indication appeared when the team provided field assistance in Gili Air," said Head of the KPK Region V Korsup Task Force Dian Patria to reporters in his statement, Thursday, August 29.

Dian revealed that his party found that there were tourists who were charged with entering tourist areas. "Without transparency or absence of an announcement board, how much to pay," he said.

The anti-corruption commission also found a number of irregularities in the management of tourist sites with third parties through this assistance. However, the legal basis is unclear and causes regional income to be not optimal.

Because, Dian said, third parties actually got a bigger profit compared to the local government. In the past year there were approximately 700 thousand tourists who came, but the local government only got Rp5 billion. This is a very small value," he said.

Dian said the small amount of local government revenue was caused by the KLU Tourism Office (Dinpar) withdrawing levies from tourists with a larger number of regulations that apply through third parties. In fact, the entrance retribution rate for the Gili Tramena tourist area is set at Rp. 20,000 for foreign tourists; Rp. 10,000 for domestic tourists; and Rp. 5,000 for children based on KLU Regional Regulation Number 9 of 2023 concerning Regional Taxes and Levy.

Then, tourists are also subject to a retribution of IDR 5,000 per person by the Transportation Service (Dishub), for port entry signs managed by the regional government.

The findings were obtained by the Bangsal Port, which has been managed by the NTB Provincial Government since August 28, 2023. In response, the local inspectorate took firm steps in following up on findings related to retribution anomalies at the Bangsal Port.

The current inspectorate is conducting further audits and calling related parties for questioning. In addition, the NTB Regional Government has also committed to evaluating and improving the mechanism for managing tourist levies in order to avoid practices that are not in accordance with regulations.