New bylaw only gives more headaches to foreigners

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

If you are a foreigner living in Jakarta, you will soon be required to register with the Jakarta Population and Civil Registration Agency. Those who fail to register could face sanctions as the agency plans to conduct raids against people living in the capital without ID cards.

The city's new policy is based on Bylaw No. 4/2004 on Population and Civil Registration, which is an amendment of Bylaw No.1/1996 on Population Registration.

Unlike the old one, the new bylaw focuses on the presence of expatriates in the capital. But, in general, it outlines the obligations of all city residents -- Jakartans, domestic migrants and foreigners.

In the bylaw, the presence of foreigners is mentioned in at least seven articles and dozens of paragraphs.

Article 11 of the bylaw, for example, rules that foreigners, before registering themselves with a subdistrict office, must report their presence to the agency.

With the bylaw, a foreigner, particularly one who holds a Stay Permit (KITAP), is entitled to a foreigners' identity card (KTP WNA) and a card listing family members (KK), upon their registration with the agency.

Previously, the two documents were only for Indonesians.

Violators could face three months' imprisonment or a Rp 5 million (US$549.45) fine.

Registering with the agency adds to the long list of procedures for foreigners who want to live and work in the city.

Currently, foreigners who live and work in Jakarta require documents issued by several offices including those dealing with immigration, tax, manpower and public order, as well as the police.

Agency head Sylviana Murni said earlier, that with the new bylaw, the agency would be able to carefully monitor foreigners living in the city, as they could be the targets of raids.

She said monitoring was necessary as violations of the current regulations were common.

Jufri, an agency employee, said there were many illegal foreign workers in the city, most of whom work in night spots.

During Monday's dissemination of the bylaw, the head of the foreign workers division at the Ministry of Transmigration and Manpower, Prihatiningsih, said the close monitoring of foreign workers was needed as local workers had less opportunities due to their presence.

Head of the Jakarta Immigration Office Arwin Adityawarman added that around 1,500 foreigners "went missing" in Indonesia annually. He said his office could not locate them as they had assumed new identities.

"We can see a big gap between the inflow and outflow of foreigners here. I think most of those who went missing are Indonesian citizens now," he added.