Council continues review of population decree

Council continues review of population decree

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has asked the city
council to continue its review of a new provincial decree on
population after it reached an agreement with the Ministry of
Home Affairs.

Romulus Sihombing, a councilor from the Indonesian Democratic
Party faction, said yesterday that the city secretary, Harun
Alrasyid, notified the council that the agreement consisted of
several points, including the right to determine fees for the new
ID. The city administration is buying new equipment and forms
from PT Solusindo Mitra Sejati, a consultant appointed by the
ministry to manage the identity cards nationwide.

The administration has decided not to increase the fee for a
new ID card from Rp 1,000 (US 46 cents).

Originally, the administration proposed to increase the fee
for a new ID card to Rp 3,000.

However, a new provincial decree is still needed as the
administration plans to increase the fee for other identity
documents such as family cards and birth certificates, Romulus
said.

The administration proposed to increase the fee for family
cards, birth certificates and other kinds of identity documents,
including ID cards for foreigners, from Rp 2,000 to Rp 5,000. The
fees for family cards for expatriates is likely to increase from
Rp 1,000 to Rp 2,000.

Therefore, he said, the city secretary asked the city council
to continue reviewing the bill.

The request was made by the city secretary in a meeting with a
special team of the city council today.

Last year the city council decided to stop reviewing the bill
until the city administration reached an agreement with the
Ministry of Home Affairs on the implementation of the new cards,
because Governor Surjadi Soedirja said that the price should not
be increased.

"It is not fair that only the fee for ID cards for Indonesians
is not increased," Romulus said.

He said that the production cost of a new ID card for
Indonesian nationals is more than Rp 1,000, while the fee will
remain at Rp 1,000. This means that the administration has to
subsidize the remaining cost of the new ID card, he said.

Romulus said that the city administration will start issuing
new IDs in five subdistricts of Menteng district, Central
Jakarta, next month, while the residents living in 260 other
subdistricts will keep the old ID card until the decree is
renewed.

The new ID card has a national population number, while the
old one has a number specific to each town or area. (yns)