Protecting Women and Children, Surabaya Tightens Adminduk Services Post-Divorce
The Surabaya City Government (Pemkot) continues to strengthen its commitment to protecting vulnerable groups, particularly women and children post-divorce. This effort is being carried out through data integration between the Population and Civil Registration Office (Dispendukcapil) and the Religious Court (PA).
Through this integration, Pemkot Surabaya is enforcing strict measures by suspending administrative population (adminduk) services for ex-husbands who do not fulfil their maintenance obligations as per court decisions.
Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi stated that the policy implemented since 2023 stemmed from his concerns 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 receiving maintenance. Upon learning this, I met with the Head of the PA,” said Eri in a written statement on Wednesday (8/4/2026).
He explained that after reviewing the 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). So as the 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 will not be processed,” he clarified.
Eri emphasised that even though a husband and wife have divorced, the responsibility towards the child remains with the father.
“You want to marry, but don’t want to care for your child. There is no such thing as a former child, because it’s the flesh and blood of a man, and respect women. So he has the obligation to provide maintenance; if he doesn’t, the ID card service will not be continued, and he cannot enjoy public services,” he asserted.
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 be resumed once the maintenance obligations are fulfilled.
“If it turns out he has debts (obligations) from three months ago when he 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 ex-husbands must not forget the fate of their children and wives,” he said.
Therefore, Eri urged all men in Surabaya not to neglect their obligations as husbands and to continue respecting women and children as vulnerable groups.
“So please respect vulnerable groups, women and children. I will never open the ID card service if he hasn’t paid and complied with the court decision,” he hoped.
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 detected.
“It’s not blocked, but the population service will show a notice and will not proceed. In E-Kitir, it will display that the applicant has not fulfilled the obligation 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 appreciation at the international level. Even Australia’s highest judicial institution, equivalent to the Supreme Court, visited and monitored the programme in 2024.
“This is a pilot project. The Indonesian Supreme Court is also studying regulations so that this collaboration programme between the Religious Court and Dispendukcapil can become a national programme across Indonesia,” he explained.
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 cases 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 the mutah maintenance category with 7,189 pending cases, against 2,845 completed ones.
As a firm step, the population data integration system has issued service suspension notifications to 8,180 subjects out of a total of 11,202 monitored data until the responsibilities are fulfilled.