Crash program launched for process ID cards

Crash program launched for process ID cards

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso has instructed all the city
subdistrict heads to launch a crash program on ID card processing
to enable city residents to have new ID cards or have their
expired cards renewed ahead of the June 7 general election, an
official said on Friday.

Tursandi Alwi, an assistant to the city secretary on public
administration affairs, said that the one-month program was
intended mainly to give a chance to young people already 17 years
old and eligible to get ID cards, and to others whose cards have
already expired to process theirs.

"The program is mainly focused on residents aged 17 years old
to process ID cards to enable them to participate in the
election," he said.

The program was open for all people eligible to have the ID
cards, including Betawi (native Jakartans), but not newcomers to
the city, he said.

"The program is not for newcomers or non-Jakartans," he
reiterated.

Tursandi said that the program was needed to accommodate
requirements for the June poll voters of the 1999 Law No. 3 on
general elections which say that to become a voter one was
required to show an ID card or other identification like a
driving license, a family card or a marriage certificate.

According to him, out of the total of about 9.7 million
Jakarta residents, the number of Jakartans eligible to vote in
the poll was about 5.8 million.

Data from the city population agency showed that the number of
17-year-olds who were eligible to posses ID cards was about
175,000.

Out of about 1.7 million people in the capital who did not
possess an ID card, 1.5 million hold seasonal ID cards and the
other 200,000 do not have a card at all.

However, no report is available yet on the number of 17-year-
olds who had made use of the chance. "We haven't recorded all the
data," Tursandi said.

Contacted separately by The Jakarta Post on Friday several
subdistrict heads said that they had responded to the governor's
instruction.

The secretary of Bangka subdistrict in South Jakarta,
Herianto, said that the subdistrict officials had opened counters
at certain locations in all neighborhoods to facilitate the ID
processing.

Cholid Munir, head of Rawamangun subdistrict in East Jakarta,
said that he had instructed neighborhood chiefs to remind their
community members that their ID cards could be processed or
renewed. (ind)