No more ET code: Soesilo<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government announced yesterday that it will
\nstart phasing out the use of the special ET code, which stands
\nfor Eks Tahanan-politik (former political detainees), on the
\nidentity cards of former communists, beginning on August 18 when
\nit launches a new ID card system.<\/p>\n
\"There will be no more ET code,\" Coordinating Minister for
\nPolitical Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman told reporters
\nafter heading a special meeting with ministers under his charge,
\nAntara reported.<\/p>\n
The encoding has been widely criticized by human rights groups
\nbecause it is highly discriminative not only to the individual
\nperson, but also to their immediate relatives. The discriminative
\npractice is mostly felt when they apply for jobs.<\/p>\n
The policy was introduced in the 1970s to allow the government
\nto monitor the whereabouts and activities of former detainees
\nlinked with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).<\/p>\n
The party, which in the early 1960s was one of the largest in
\nIndonesia, was outlawed in 1966 after it was accused of
\nengineering the abortive coup a year earlier. Many PKI members
\nand supporters were rounded up subsequently and sentenced to hard
\nlabor on Buru Island in Maluku. They were released under a
\ngeneral amnesty in the late 1970s.<\/p>\n
Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M., who accompanied
\nSoesilo at the press conference yesterday, said that at the last
\nsurvey just before the 1992 general election, there were
\n1,352,896 people whose ID cards were stamped with the ET code.<\/p>\n
He said however that of these, 1,316,551 were allowed to take
\npart in the general election, while the other 36,345 were barred.<\/p>\n
The government's announcement comes amid growing demand from
\nhuman rights campaigners, some statesmen and politicians to
\nremove any remaining discriminatory signs of a person's previous
\ncommunist links as part of the national reconciliation spirit as
\nthe nation marks its 50th independence anniversary this year.<\/p>\n
The government has already announced that it will be releasing
\nthree political prisoners who were convicted for the botched coup
\nin 1965 and officials have said that a few others are being
\nconsidered for possible release.<\/p>\n
Soesilo said that the ET code would not appear on new ID cards
\nthat will be issued after Aug. 18.<\/p>\n
He said, however, that the government is not letting down its
\nguard, and monitoring of the activities of these former detainees
\nwill continue in other forms.<\/p>\n
\"Everybody will be monitoring them, the government and the
\npeople. The scrapping of the ET code is not a step backward,
\nbecause we will always be watching out against the latent danger
\nof communism.\"<\/p>\n
Yogie explained that the decision was also based on reports
\nthat the former detainees have been behaving themselves, some
\nbecoming very religious.<\/p>\n
Yogie explained that on Aug. 18, the government will formally
\nlaunch the new ID card system, with the presentation of the first
\ntwo cards to President Soeharto and First Lady Tien Soeharto.<\/p>\n
The new card system is more sophisticated in that it would not
\nenable a person to have more than one ID card, which has been one
\nof the chief weaknesses of the current system, Yogie said.<\/p>\n
From now on, each citizen will be given a citizenship number
\nwhich he or she will carry all the time, he said.<\/p>\n
The new ID card will be valid for three years, but for those
\nwho are over 50 years old, it is valid for the rest of their
\nlives. The cost of an ID is set at Rp 3,000.<\/p>\n
Yogie said that the new ID system will be introduced in
\nphases, starting first with Jakarta, West Java, East Java, Bali,
\nEast Kalimantan and Maluku. (emb)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/no-more-et-code-soesilo-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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