Proposal for e-KTP Loss Fine Urged Not to Burden the Public
JAKARTA - Member of the House of Representatives Commission II, Ali Ahmad, has highlighted the proposal to impose fines on citizens who lose their electronic resident identity cards (e-KTP).
According to him, the proposal still requires in-depth study to ensure its implementation does not harm the public.
“The ID card is the gateway for citizens to access their basic rights. This fine policy must not become an obstacle for the public, especially the underprivileged, in accessing public services such as healthcare or social assistance,” Ali stated in his remarks on Thursday (23/4/2026).
Therefore, the government must differentiate between losses due to negligence and those caused by disasters affecting the public.
“If citizens who are victims of theft or disasters are still burdened with fines, this would certainly be very unfair and hurt the public’s sense of justice,” Ali stressed.
In addition, he reminded that the proposal should not be counterproductive to the state’s obligations in population services.
“If digital identities are widespread and accepted across all banking and public service sectors, the public will no longer need to worry about losing physical cards. This would be far more efficient for the state and easier for citizens,” Ali said.
Previously, Deputy Interior Minister Bima Arya Sugiarto proposed that citizens who lose their e-KTP be subject to a fine when applying for a reprint.
According to Bima, the policy needs to be considered to encourage public responsibility in safeguarding population documents.
“Many citizens are not very responsible in using or maintaining their ID cards and other identity documents. They lose them easily and so on, and reprinting is free,” Bima said during a working meeting with Commission II of the House of Representatives on population administration oversight on Monday (20/4/2026).
In addition to the fine proposal, Bima outlined several points in the planned revision of Law No. 24 of 2013 on Population Administration.
One of them is strengthening the Population Registration Number (NIK) as a single identity. The government also proposes strengthening Digital Population Identity (IKD), providing a legal basis for Child Identity Cards (KIA), and changing the term “disabled” to “disability”.
“So if it is affirmed in the Law that population administration is a mandatory government affair related to basic services, then all regional governments will be more committed to budgeting and planning,” Bima said.