Effectiveness of ID card sweeps questioned<\/p>\n
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
City councillors questioned on Thursday the effectiveness of the
\nadministration's plan to conduct a sweep on ID cards to curb the
\nflow of migrants, commenting that it might promote corruption
\namong city officials.<\/p>\n
Muchayar, vice chairman of the Justice Party (PK) faction,
\nsaid that such raids would not solve the problem as it also paved
\nthe way for officials to charge illegal levies.<\/p>\n
"Subdistrict officials may give migrants the papers needed to
\nstay here; at a price, of course. Or the migrants can bribe the
\nheads of their neighborhood units (RT) and community units (RW)."<\/p>\n
In the past few years, the city administration had conducted
\nOperasi KTP, or Operation ID Cards, in an effort to curb the
\nuncontrollable influx of migrants to the capital.<\/p>\n
The City Population Agency claimed on Wednesday that during
\nthe Idul Fitri holiday season, 2.64 million Jakartans left the
\ncity, and at the end of the holiday, about 2.87 million had
\nreturned.<\/p>\n
The possibility of illegal levies and other forms of
\nembezzlement resulting from such operations was also the concern
\nof Syamsidar Siregar of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction,
\nwho questioned the accountability of funds provided to send the
\nmigrants home.<\/p>\n
"All this time, the population agency has always said that it
\nhas returned migrants to their hometowns every year by providing
\nbus tickets.<\/p>\n
"But who can guarantee that the number of returned migrants as
\nreported by the population agency is true?" she asked.<\/p>\n
Syamsidar also revealed that the draft bylaw on new population
\nwould require migrants to provide a guarantee fee of some Rp
\n50,000 to Rp 100,000 when entering Jakarta.<\/p>\n
"The guarantee fee will cover the cost of returning a migrant
\nto his or her hometown if he or she fails to find a job after six
\nmonths," she said.<\/p>\n
"This, again, opens the possibilities of swindling funds. Are
\nyou sure the officials will refrain from misusing the guarantee
\nfees?"<\/p>\n
She also said that there was also the possibility that
\nofficials would not return the fees to migrants.<\/p>\n
"On the other hand, who can guarantee that a migrant will
\ndirectly go home after the fee has been reimbursed?"<\/p>\n
The city administration is now drafting a new bylaw which will
\ngive them more authority to expel poor, unskilled migrants.<\/p>\n
Activists have repeatedly criticized the government for trying
\nto make Jakarta a closed city, saying that it is against the
\nConstitution and is a violation of human rights.<\/p>\n
Both Muchayar and Syamsidar, however, supported the
\nadministration, saying that migrants wishing to come to Jakarta
\nshould have a secure job offer, or at least someone sponsoring
\nthem.<\/p>\n
"It would be ideal if the migrants have secured a job here
\nalready, because we know then that they would be able to support
\nthemselves," said Muchayar, "but they should have their family
\nmembers or other relatives here to be responsible for their
\npresence in the capital."<\/p>\n
Muchayar also supported the controversial raid on migrants,
\nsaying that it was important to uphold population regulations,
\nwhile remarking that the raids were not intended to create a
\nclosed city.<\/p>\n
"The raid is not aimed at closing the city, but is purely
\naimed at upholding the city population regulation, which requires
\neach and every citizen to have a valid ID card," he said.<\/p>\n
"Such action is also needed to prevent people without clear
\nbackgrounds and occupations from coming to the city.<\/p>\n
"Jakarta is still an open city as long as the migrant follows
\nthe population regulation of informing the heads of their RT and
\nRW of their presence ," he added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/effectiveness-of-id-card-sweeps-questioned-1447893297",
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