Identity from the first breath

Surabaya demonstrates that bureaucratic reform does not always require complicated policy.

Surabaya (ANTARA) - Behind a baby’s first cry, a legal relationship between the state and its citizen is also born. For years, many families in Indonesia have known this process as a long chain of administrative affairs.

The baby is born first, while the birth certificate, National Identity Number (NIK), and updated Family Card follow days or even months later.

The city of Surabaya, East Java, is trying to reverse that way of thinking. As soon as a baby is born to parents holding a Surabaya ID card (KTP) or Family Card, three civil registration documents are issued free of charge: a birth certificate, a Child Identity Card (KIA), and an updated Family Card.

The Surabaya city government targets that all these documents will be completed within 24 hours at the latest, through cooperation with 69 hospitals and more than 150 health facilities and community health centres (puskesmas).

At first glance, this service appears to be merely a bureaucratic innovation. In fact, its meaning is far greater. The state is no longer present only after citizens request services, but is present at the very moment a new life is born. This is a paradigm shift in public service that deserves attention.