ID cards and security

ID cards and security

Marco Kusumawijaya, Urban Expert , Jakarta

More and more office buildings on Jl. M.H. Thamrin and Jl.
Sudirman, especially those with foreign tenants, are applying
silly security measures following the JW Marriott Hotel bombing.

Visitors are now required to leave their ID cards at the
reception counters, without exception.

This policy is ridiculously overacting because keeping
visitors' IDs has nothing to do with protecting the buildings
from attack, in particular providing better security in general.
Instead, the measure causes inconvenience and is an intrusion of
privacy and poses potential danger to the visitors themselves.

After a body and bag search, requesting visitors to surrender
their ID cards is irrelevant to both the security of the
buildings and their tenants and other visitors.

If anything does happen to the buildings and the visitors, ID
cards are extremely important for the visitors for, among other
things, identification purpose.

In case of a terrorist attack, there is a greater possibility
that the visitors' ID cards, which are kept by the receptionists
or building security officers, may be destroyed together with the
reception area. In other cases, such as fire and earthquake, the
panic situation would make it impossible for the visitors to
retrieve their cards, and it is probable that they might be lost
after the event. So, where did the idea of keeping visitors' ID
cards come from?

From this point of view, it is clear that holding visitors' ID
cards is putting visitors in danger while at the same time
serving no security purpose at all.

Many visitors may need their ID cards with them while they are
in the buildings, for example for banking services or for
applying for a membership with an organization.

In Indonesia, especially Jakarta, there is also a dubious
ruling that citizens should always have their ID cards with them.
The law reads that citizens should have ID cards, but there is no
mention about people having to carry the ID cards at all times.

However, the Jakarta authorities have been staging operations
to make sure people are carrying their ID cards. There is a
contradiction between one authority demanding citizens carry
their ID cards at all times, and building managements requiring
that visitors hand over their IDs.

It is indeed bad enough for Indonesians to have ID cards and
to be obliged to reveal or expose private information. This
practice dates back to colonial days, when natives were required
to produce a pass when traveling.

The Japanese fascist administration might have strengthened
this practice to what we inherited. The fact is that there is no
requirement for Japanese citizens to have ID cards like we do in
Indonesia. Citizens are registered at City Hall, but not required
to bring their registration information. Company employees'
identification cards practically function as ID cards. If one
enters an office building, he or she is just asked to show the
cards. There is no request to surrender the cards at the
reception desk, even for a single minute. Building security
guards and receptionists may just take notes, but not keep the
visitors' ID cards while the visitors are on the premises.

Two months after the Sept. 11 tragedy, I visited several
government offices in the U.S. and even the Congress. To my
surprise, I was only required to show my passport and the
receptionist took some notes, but they did not keep a single
document of mine.

It is not too late for the city authorities to find out what
is going on with the security measures in most office buildings
in Jakarta. Something must be done before the annoying action
becomes a "legal ruling" which merely puts visitors in a
difficult situation in case of emergency. Will building owners or
managements be responsible for the loss of the visitors' ID cards
if something happens in the building?

Some building managements argue that they need to keep the ID
cards, and in return the visitors get a badge, which must be
returned to the receptionist after their business is over.

Preventing acts of terrorism in an office building is a must,
but keeping visitors' ID cards is an irresponsible action that
violates people's privacy.

Why should such a basic right be violated by an action that is
totally unnecessary, while there are other reasonable measures
building managements can take to protect against terrorism.