Foreigners required to have KTPs

Foreigners required to have KTPs

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Foreigners staying and working in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan are
now required to have an Indonesian identification card even if
they have valid residence and working permits.

Balikpapan Mayor Imdaad Hamid said Friday afternoon that all
foreigners residing in the mayoralty were required to have a KTP
identification card, for which they had to pay US$300 annually to
the local administration.

"For Balikpapan residents the $300 is indeed a very big amount
but for foreigners (working in Balikpapan) the amount is
relatively small compared to their salary which ranges between
$2,500 and $10,000 a month," Imdaad was quoted by Antara as
saying.

Foreigners working in Indonesia are all obliged to pay a
monthly fee of $100 to the manpower ministry.

Imdaad said the policy was adopted to facilitate population
management and boost revenue. He did not explain what he meant by
population management.

KTP is strictly reserved for Indonesians and the country does
not recognize dual citizenship.

As an example, international Muslim activist Abdul Wahid
Kadungga was questioned and briefly detained by police for
possessing an Indonesian KTP.

"There are currently 1,215 foreign workers in Balikpapan,
excluding their family members, and the figure is expected to
rise as more and more foreign companies are operating in
Balikpapan," Imdaad said.

Most foreigners in Balikpapan were working in oil and gas as
well as petrochemical companies.

Imdaad said local legislature members had thrown their support
behind the move and had incorporated the taxation into a
Population Management bylaw.

Imdaad claimed that expatriates there already understood the
rationale behind the policy and were ready to comply.

"At the beginning, foreigners rejected the policy, saying that
they already have passports and permits to work in Indonesia but
finally agreed to have KTPs after receiving an explanation from
the Balikpapan administration," he said.

Imdaad said that foreigners would continue to flock to
Balikpapan following the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade
Area (AFTA) in 2003, and thus the KTP policy would remain in
place.

Last year, the Ministry of Home Affairs revoked dozens of by-
laws after the Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
complained that they (the laws) had kept much-needed investment
at bay. It is not yet known, however, how the KTP policy would
affect investment in Balikpapan.