Few people apply for death certificates

Few people apply for death certificates

JAKARTA (JP): Head of the city's Civil Registration Office, Herusuko, said yesterday that Jakarta citizens' awareness of the importance of death certificates is still low.

"We only issue about 4,000 death certificates a year. This is quite a small number given the fact that, on average, 24,000 people die in Jakarta every year," Herusuko said in a hearing with members of Commission C of the City Council.

Herusuko was quoted by Antara as saying that most bereaved families ignore the importance of death certificates because they think they are unnecessary. "They are not yet aware that such certificates are very useful."

He said death certificates help the families of deceased people with the matters of inheritance and burial.

Herusuko said his office would be co-operating closely with the city's Cemetery Board, hospitals and officials at the sub- district level.

"This will be helpful for us in monitoring the number of deaths in the city," he said.

He said that his office had issued 3,431 death certificates in 1992/1993, 3,557 certificates in 1993/1994 and 2,520 certificates in l994/95 (up to last month). The office records the issue of certificates according to the financial year, which starts in April.

A death certificate costs Rp 25,000 for an Indonesian citizen. For a foreign citizen the cost is Rp 5,000.

Herusuko also expressed concern about the low awareness of Jakarta people regarding Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates and Divorce Certificates.

"It is mostly because they are still poorly informed about the importance of those certificates," he said. "There are also many people who cannot afford to arrange for such certificates."

Herusuko acknowledged that it often takes a long time for his office to process a death certificate because the process is still carried out manually and the certificates are written by hand.

He said his office had recently discovered 500 false birth certificates.

"The forgeries were uncovered when the holders of the certificates went to the city's Civil Registration Office to have the certificates validated. It turned out that the copies of the certificates were not registered with the office," Herusuko said, adding that the case had yet to be reported to police. (bas)