Improvement of bureaucracy needed

Improvement of bureaucracy needed

From Republika

Some time ago President Abdurrahman Wahid said that the government would issue a new identity card valid for 10 years. I agree to this plan. But I would like to suggest that the procedures needed to get ID cards should be improved. Up until now, the procedure for applying for an ID card is full of red tape.

In Surabaya, for example, although the design of the ID card looks fashionable, like that of a driver's license, red tape is still quite evident. This is because you have to get letters of recommendation from the offices of the neighborhood chief and the village chief. In all these bureaucracies you have to pay a tip or an administrative fee.

To avoid these illegal fees and to make the procedure much simpler and quicker, I suggest that ID cards should be issued by the district office with a recommendation from the village chief only. Even so, there must be supervision because district office employees also tend to exhort money from citizens.

By excluding neighborhood chiefs from the process of getting an ID card, they can assume their real function i.e. as a societal institution, instead of being a tool of the village office. In this context, the Ministry of Home Affairs should improve the organizational structure of its bureaucracy.

ZAINAL ABIDIN

Surabaya