Protecting Vulnerable Groups, Surabaya City Government Tightens Post-Divorce Civil Registry Services
The Surabaya City Government (Pemkot) continues to strengthen its commitment to protecting vulnerable groups, particularly women and children post-divorce. Through data integration between the Population and Civil Registration Office (Dispendukcapil) and the Religious Court (PA), Pemkot Surabaya has introduced a firm measure by suspending civil registry (Adminduk) services for former husbands who do not fulfil maintenance obligations as per court decisions.
Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi stated that the policy, implemented since 2023, stemmed from his concern after discovering many single mothers struggling to support their families due to lack of maintenance from ex-husbands. “When I went to the field, many women said, sir, I can’t work anymore, where is my husband? It turned out they were divorced and not supported. Upon learning this, I met with the Head of the PA,” said Mayor Eri Cahyadi on Sunday, 5 April 2026.
According to Mayor Eri, after reviewing court decisions at the Surabaya PA, there is a provision that every husband who separates from his wife must provide maintenance for several months as per the court ruling. “That means they have an obligation, and that’s where I told the Head of the PA that the government must be present to help and strengthen vulnerable groups (women and children).”
“As a mayor entrusted by the people of Surabaya, I requested that it be included in the decision that he must provide maintenance, and if not, his ID card service will not proceed,” added Mayor Eri.
He stated that even though a husband and wife are divorced, the responsibility towards the child remains with the father. “You want to remarry, but don’t want to care for your child. There is no such thing as a former child, because they are the flesh and blood of a man, and respect women. Therefore, he has the obligation to provide maintenance; if he doesn’t, the ID card service will not proceed, and he cannot enjoy public services,” he said.
He also assured that the ID card service suspension policy in Surabaya has been coordinated with the central government and is not permanent. Services will resume once maintenance obligations are fulfilled.
“If it turns out he has debts (obligations) from three months ago and remarries or forgets, he must pay first before we open (the service). If he pays in the fourth month, but then one, two, three months are not paid, access will not be opened. This serves as a reminder that former husbands must not forget the fate of their children and ex-wives,” he said.
Therefore, Mayor Eri urged all men in Surabaya not to neglect their duties as husbands and to continue respecting women and children as vulnerable groups. “So please respect vulnerable groups, women and children. I will never open ID card services if they haven’t paid and complied with the court decision,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Communication and Informatics Office (Dinkominfo) of Surabaya City, Eddy Christijanto, who previously served as Head of Dispendukcapil, explained that the policy is directly integrated with the PA dashboard, allowing officers to monitor the Population Administration Information System (SIAK) data automatically.
Additionally, the system will send notifications if citizens with outstanding post-divorce obligations are found.
“It’s not blocked, but the civil registry service will show a notice and will not proceed. In E-Kitir, it will display that the applicant has not fulfilled obligations regarding Religious Court decision number such and such. They must report to the PA first; after payment, the system will open automatically,” Eddy explained.
Eddy also noted that this innovation for protecting women and children has received international appreciation. Even Australia’s highest judicial institution, equivalent to the Supreme Court, visited and monitored the programme in 2024.
“This is a pilot project. The Supreme Court of Indonesia is also studying regulations so that this collaboration between the Religious Court and Dispendukcapil can become a national programme across Indonesia,” he said.
Based on data as of 1 April 2026, the non-compliance rate with court decisions in Surabaya remains high. There are 4,986 unresolved child maintenance cases, while 1,356 have been settled.
For iddah maintenance fulfilment, there are 5,582 outstanding obligations compared to 1,865 resolved cases. The highest non-compliance is in mutah maintenance with 7,189 pending cases versus 2,845 completed.
As a firm step, the civil registry data integration system has issued service suspension notifications to 8,180 subjects out of a total of 11,202 monitored data until responsibilities are fulfilled.