ID card raids ineffective and ridiculous, critics say
Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Critics condemned the Jakarta administration for continuing its controversial door-to-door ID card raids Wednesday, saying the policy violated human rights, and was also ineffective and ridiculous.
Dadan Umar Daihani, director of the research department of Trisakti University, said he did not see the point of the raids and claimed they would be ineffective in solving current problems.
"Is it true that someone is only allowed to work and be in the province or city where he comes from? That's too much. It limits one's mobility. What will happen if an Irianese travels to Jakarta to see Monas (the National Monument) and fails to show a Jakarta ID card? Does it mean he can't visit the capital?" asked Dadan, who is also the chairman of the university's industrial- technical post-graduate program.
"If the administration is conducting the raids to prevent urbanization, the policy will definitely be ineffective. Do they really want Jakarta to be an exclusive area?
"I don't see the urgency (of the raids). Is it to prevent urbanization or crime? It seems the officials have nothing else to do," he told The Jakarta Post.
Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto, head of the city and urban society division of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, said that the officials should stop the raids as they went against human rights.
"They always claim to be conducting such raids to regularize illegals as they don't have Jakarta ID cards. Their actions, however, violate people's human rights as regards freedom and the right to live in any part of the country."
He also questioned the procedures employed during the raids.
"Do the officials involved in the raids carry warrants from the local district court? What usually happens is the officials assault the residents."
In Tuesday's raids, 1,763 people were checked and 549 of them were tried. A total of 76 were set free while 473 people were fined. Thirty-seven others will be sent back home next month after spending a month in the Kedoya rehabilitation center in West Jakarta.
Tubagus claimed that during the trials the accused were not informed of the violations they were alleged to have committed nor their rights.
He also said that should the administration want to regularize population affairs, it should set its own house in order first.
"How many civil servants at City Hall live in Jakarta? Most of them reside on the outskirts of the capital. The first targets for the raids should be within the administration itself, if we want to be that extreme ..."
Urban Poor Consortium chairwoman Wardah Hafidz said separately that the raids not only violated the people's rights but also failed to solve the problem.
"It doesn't solve the problem. These persons can only do these sort of jobs and they don't disturb others. Given that the administration is checking on non-Jakarta people, are Jakartans going to be treated the same way if they visit Yogyakarta or Surakarta? Are we going to set up city states?"
She said that the ID card raids would not help to establish order in the city, let alone solve urban and social problems.
"In general, urbanization is a national issue. As the capital, 80 percent of the money goes to Jakarta. Therefore, numerous workers come to the city to find jobs."
"The government should implement decentralization to provide more job vacancies throughout the country."