Sylviana Hamdani – The sheer audacity with which disgraced former taxman Gayus Tambunan made trips abroad using a fake passport may have shocked many Indonesians. But the reality is that the practice is more common than most people think.

There are lots of people willing to pay huge sums of money to enter foreign lands illegally if it means having a better life or, in the case of the tax official, getting a break from jail.

Gayus, who last month was sentenced to seven years in jail for bribery, reportedly paid Rp 900 million ($100,000) for a fake passport under the name Sony Laksono. That is a princely sum compared with your standard legal Indonesian passport, which costs Rp 270,000 to process.

With the forged travel document – now mysteriously missing – Gayus was able to travel to Macau, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore between September and October last year while he was supposed to be detained in Depok while on trial.

But he is certainly not the only one to break the rules. Hidayat (not his real name), a former car salesman, said he paid Rp 50 million for a fake passport and visa to the United States in 2005.

At the time, he was 44 years old and had been unemployed for two years. "I'm only a high school graduate and I'm not young," he said. "Who would hire me?" Hidayat and his wife, a schoolteacher, were barely making ends meet here and he was desperate for a job in the United States.

"America is the land of opportunity," he said. "My neighbor worked there for seven years and brought home Rp 2 billion. In addition, he also bought a car and a house for his wife and children."

His visa application was turned down three times by the US Embassy in Jakarta, so a friend suggested he contact Budi, a fixer at the immigration office. "Budi took care of everything," Hidayat said.

For Rp 50 million, Hidayat got a passport under a fake name, already stamped with a six-month tourist visa to the United States, as well as a plane ticket and a guaranteed job once he arrived.

"My first job washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles," Hidayat said. "I made $1,700 per month. I could have never made that much at home."

Though it was backbreaking work – six days a week he would work from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. – the money made all the toil worth it.

Most of his pay went to his wife and children back home. He saved on rent and meals because he stayed at his employer's home with six other migrant workers from China, Mexico and Indonesia.

After a couple of months in Los Angeles, Hidayat went further and had a fixer help him obtain a fake work permit in the United States. "It cost me about $500, but it was well worth it," he said.

Middleman magic

The Jakarta Globe contacted Budi to learn more about how the fixer operated and what kind of services he offered. Speaking by telephone, Budi said he could provide a visa and a forged passport for Rp 65 million.

Faking the passport is a cinch, he said, since he can just paste the client's photo on his sister's passport, which has already been stamped with the required visa to the United States.

"All you have to do is to send me your current picture burned on a CD," Budi said. "We'll put your picture on my sister's passport and then you're good to go."

The fixer said he worked with an immigration official to switch pictures on "special passports." Budi requires a down payment of Rp 30 million to process the travel documents.

"It's not negotiable. Our costs in providing you these services are very high," he said. "We don't pay the immigration officer a mere Rp 1 million or Rp 2 million, you know."

Budi said the immigration officer would also give his clients a free pass at the immigration counter at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. "He will smooth things out for you," the fixer said.

Once the forged passport is ready, the client needs to pay another Rp 30 million. But Budi's services do not stop there. "I'll arrange a return plane ticket, hotel and tour vouchers for you," he said, adding that he would arrange these online.

These additional travel papers, he said, would make immigration officers less suspicious. "You should get in with no problem at all," he said.

The fixer said a middleman in the United States picked his clients up at the airport. This man is paid Rp 5 million.

"That's the cost of your temporary lodging and job placement in the country," Budi said. "I can guarantee you will get a job within two or three days. As long as you can speak English and are willing to work hard, there should be no problem even on a tourist visa."

But travel documents only go so far, and it is up to the clients to allay any suspicion. A good memory and a confident manner are necessary to maintain the disguise, according to Budi.

"Memorize everything in your new passport, such as the spelling of your name, the place and date of birth and home address," he said. "You should also remember the name of your hotel and the places of interest that you're supposed to visit during the tour."

"It's much easier for women because the immigration officers usually don't suspect them of coming to their country to find work [illegally]," he added.

The entire process is risky, but Budi estimated that 90 percent of his clients were able to enter the United States without any major hitches.

Crackdown

The government has made efforts to curb these kinds of illegal activities, including the launch of an e-passport that officials have said cannot be faked.

"This is to prevent forgery," Justice Minister Patrialis Akbar told reporters in January. "The e-passport is very sophisticated and is very difficult to be forged because there is a special chip in it."

The new passports, introduced on a trial basis, however, cost much more than regular passports. A 48-page e-passport costs Rp 655,000 and is only available at immigration offices in Central Jakarta, West Jakarta and at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are among the countries in Southeast Asia that have already adopted e-passport systems.

But Martua Batubara, a spokesman for the Justice and Human Rights Ministry in Jakarta, said it was hard to stop the forgery of travel documents since there were plenty of dishonest immigration officers.

"Currently, Bareskrim [the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department] and our ministry are working closely to investigate these kinds of cases," Martua said. "We have zero tolerance for these officers."

Still, putting an end to the racket will be a difficult, if not impossible, task because fixers always seem to find a way to circumvent even the strictest of rules.

Organized crime?

Wati (not her real name) also specializes in helping Indonesians get into America. The 55-year-old works for an international volunteer organization that invites delegates to a convention in one of its US offices once a year.

Not all Indonesian delegates choose to attend the convention, so Wati and her friend sell these slots to those hoping to work in the United States.

For Rp 60 million a seat, the buyer gets a membership card and a formal letter of invitation to the conference – one of the requirements for an entry visa.

"Then we'll go as a group for the visa interview. We won't have any problems obtaining the visa," Wati said.

Over the past three years, Wati and her colleague have used the system to send more than 30 Indonesians to the United States. As a bonus, the fee the pair charges includes job placement services.

"After the convention, you're free to go wherever you like in the United States," she said. "My contact will help you find a good job in whatever city you prefer."

Wati said the illegal nature of the setup did not hinder her clients from finding jobs once they arrived abroad. "But, if you want to be on the safe side, I can help," she said.

She claimed her network of fixers included several high-profile lawyers based in the United States who could help an illegal worker obtain a permanent residence permit. This costs $2,000, payable in installments.

"It'll take many years to get that permit," Wati said. "But as long as you have the registration form attached to your passport, you'll be safe."

Broken dreams

From the time they purchase forged passports to the moment they become illegal workers, people need to understand that they may pay a steep price for violating immigration laws.

The American dream ended abruptly for Hidayat in February 2007, when police arrested him for overstaying his visa.

Hidayat and his friend had gotten into a brawl in a Texas bar and were arrested. During questioning, he was found to have been working in the United States illegally and was sent to a county jail. "It was sheer bad luck," Hidayat said.

His brother bailed him out four months later. "It could have taken me years waiting for deportation," he said. "I couldn't stand it. I couldn't bear living in that prison."

After almost two years of earning big, Hidayat is now deep in debt. He owes his brother $6,000 for bail and $1,700 for the plane ticket back to Indonesia. "I'm practically broke now," he said. "But my friend introduced me to a man who can help me go to the Netherlands," Hidayat said, with a hopeful smile.