DPR Member Assesses Indonesia's Population Administration System as Lagging Behind Malaysia
JAKARTA - The Chairman of Commission II of the DPR RI, Muhammad Rifqinizamy Karsayuda, assesses that Indonesia’s population administration (adminduk) system is still lagging behind Malaysia’s.
“Why do I describe Malaysia? It’s close to us, and the country gained independence 10 years after us,” said Rifqi in the Commission II DPR meeting room, Jakarta, on Monday (20/4/2026).
Rifqi made this statement while opening the working meeting and hearing of opinions (RDP) of Commission II DPR RI with Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Bima Arya Sugiarto and his team, with the agenda of overseeing population administration.
According to him, at that time, Malaysian citizens only needed to use their identity card number (IC Number) for various purposes.
“Back in 2007, that is 20 years ago, almost 20 years ago, Malaysian residents only needed to remember their IC (Identity Card) Number,” he said.
He explained that when conducting transactions like trading in a car, residents were only asked to state their IC Number.
That number was then verified, including through fingerprints, to ascertain identity, tax compliance, and even financial capability.
“Honestly, at that time, I considered it something luxurious and special. Now, 20 years later, we are still like this, while they have probably advanced much further,” he revealed.
For example, changes in citizens’ status, such as those who have passed away or newly acquired voting rights, are not recorded quickly.
He gave an example that a TNI member who retires one day before voting day should already have voting rights.
“Because retirement involves reporting first, and the reporting is slow, it ends up potentially eliminating people’s constitutional right to vote,” he stressed.
“Those who have died, who receive a death certificate from the village head, but that is not digitalised and not updated with the data we have,” he added.
In this regard, he emphasised that the Working Committee (Panja) for the Population Administration Bill has been formed and approved in Commission II DPR RI.
However, the formal legislation process is still awaiting the applicable stages, including a response to the letter from the DPR leadership to the President regarding the appointment of government representatives to discuss the revision of the Population Administration Law.
“Therefore, while waiting for the President’s letter and respecting the formal process, today’s meeting is scheduled to discuss the urgency of revising the Adminduk Law as an effort to improve the governance of population administration in Indonesia,” he explained.