Ministry revises agreement on identity card fee
Ministry revises agreement on identity card fee
JAKARTA (JP): Authority for setting the fee for ID cards has
been "returned" to provincial administrations after the Ministry
of Home Affairs revised its agreement with a private firm
appointed to produce the new cards.
The ministry's secretary-general, Suryatna Soebrata, said
yesterday that the ministry had only suggested that the fee
should range from Rp 1,000 (45 U.S. cents) to Rp 3,000.
It is up to the provincial administrations and their councils
to decide on the fee, he said.
Suryatna said it is not true that the fee will be set by the
ministry and PT Solusindo Mitra Sejati, the private company
awarded the right to handle the process of producing the new ID
cards.
In the case of Jakarta, Governor Surjadi Soedirdja and the
city council will decide the fee, he said.
Suryatna conceded, however, that the memorandum of
understanding between the ministry and the company, signed on
Feb. 27, 1993, stated that the fee would be set by the ministry
and the company.
"The deal has been revised. The new one was signed by Minister
of Home Affairs Yogie S. Memet and the company president, Setya
Novanto, on March 16, 1995," he said.
Suryatna met with Governor Surjadi Soedirdja yesterday to
inform him about the revision. He declined to reveal to reporters
why he was meeting to brief the governor on the amendment, which
was signed nine months ago.
The new deal is strengthened by the Ministerial Decree No.
470/25 A/1995, dated March 24, 1995, on the appointment of the
company in helping the government to develop and implement its
population registration system, Suryatna said.
When asked if the revision had been made in the wake of the
public outcry about the original agreement, Suryatna commented:
"We improved things which were improper. We had to make some
adjustments."
The ID card fee for Jakarta is currently Rp 1,000. The home
affairs ministry had originally proposed to increase the fee to
Rp 3,000.
Higher fees were also proposed for family cards, birth
certificates and other identification documents. The ministry
also proposed a hike in the fee for ID cards for foreigners, from
Rp 2,000 to Rp 5,000, and of family cards for expatriates from Rp
1,000 to Rp 2,000.
Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said following the reports on the
proposal that there was no reason for the city administration to
impose unduly high fees for processing new ID cards.
He said the city administration itself was able to issue ID
cards and that it was not necessary to award the project to
private company.
The governor added that he would guarantee that the price for
new ID card would be as low as possible for residents of Jakarta.
Helmy A.R. Syihab, the chairman of the city council's
commission for financial affairs, said earlier that it was
reasonable that the fee for a new Jakarta ID card be set between
Rp 1,000 and Rp 1,500.
A new kind of identity card was introduced nationwide last
August, with President Soeharto and First Lady Tien Soeharto
being the first recipients of the new ID cards.
It is expected that the use of new identity card nationwide
will start on Jan. 2, 1996. (32)