New bylaw only gives more headaches to foreigners
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.