Free ID cards soon

Free ID cards soon

JAKARTA (JP): City officials are prepared to carry out the
free identity card renewal scheme immediately after City Council
endorses the policy, Governor Sutiyoso said on Tuesday.

"The free ID card scheme has been one of my commitments to
improve public services. When I get the council's letter of
recommendation, we will implement it on the same day," Sutiyoso
told reporters while visiting Semper Timur in North Jakarta.

As soon as the council approves the scheme, the officials in
charge will start renewing IDs for Jakartans free of charge.

The City Council approved the scheme on Monday, announcing
that it would issue its recommendation to legalize the plan while
waiting the possible enactment of a bylaw on the matter.

Currently, people applying for ID cards in the capital are
governed by two regulations, City Bylaw No. 1/1996 on population
administration and City Bylaw No. 3/1999 on city levies.

Sutiyoso, after his accountability speech was rejected by the
City Council in July, vowed to provide free ID card renewal as
the city administration only receives Rp 1.75 billion
(US$188,172) annually from the service.

He pledged to extend the validity period for ID cards from the
current three years to five years.

Along with the decision, the city administration vowed to
impose harsher penalties than currently in place for residents
who failed to renew their cards on time and to monitor the
process of obtaining cards to prevent any possible abuse of the
system by foreigners. (dja)