Deputy Interior Minister Proposes Fine for Citizens Losing E-KTP
Jakarta - Deputy Interior Minister Bima Arya Sugiarto has proposed that citizens who lose their electronic ID cards (e-KTP) should face a fine when seeking to reprint them.
According to Bima, such a policy needs to be considered to encourage public responsibility in maintaining population documents.
“There are many citizens who are not very responsible about using or caring for their KTP and other population identity documents. They lose them easily and so on, and reprinting them is free,” Bima said during a working meeting with Commission II of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) on population administration supervision, on Monday (20/4/2026).
He explained that the high number of lost population documents creates a cost burden for the state.
“So, we need to think about making citizens more responsible by requiring them to pay the full cost, a fine or something like that. Because every day, how many reports of losses are there, Mr Teguh (Director General of Population and Civil Registration)? Tens of thousands. Tens of thousands, because it’s free. So this is also a cost centre here,” he said.
In addition to the fine proposal, Bima outlined several points in the plan to revise Law No. 24 of 2013 on Population Administration (Adminduk).
One of them is strengthening the National Identity Number (NIK) as a single identity.
“We would like to convey several points regarding the urgency of revising Law 24 of 2013 (on Adminduk). The first is strengthening the NIK as a single identity number,” he said.
Furthermore, Bima believes there needs to be an affirmation that population administration services are basic services that local governments are obliged to provide.
“So, if it is affirmed in the Law that Adminduk is a mandatory government affair related to basic services, then all local governments will be more committed to budgeting and planning,” he stated.
The PAN politician also highlighted the importance of strengthening population data protection, as well as clarifying the division of authority between the central and regional governments.
“So far, we often debate and waste energy on who is leading, whose authority it is. We think that in the upcoming process and discussion, it would be very good if we address issues about authority and coordination between institutions,” he concluded.