Residents Asked for Extra Money at North Bekasi KUA to Speed Up Processing, But It Doesn't Actually Expedite

BEKASI, KOMPAS.com - A resident named Vera (28) claimed she was once asked for extra money when handling her marriage administration at the North Bekasi Office of Religious Affairs (KUA), Bekasi City. She shared this following allegations of illegal levies (pungli) at the North Bekasi KUA that surfaced on social media and drew public scrutiny. Vera recounted that she was asked for additional fees beyond the regulations under the pretext of speeding up the marriage document processing. She admitted to questioning the extra fee but received no clear explanation. “When I asked, there was no definite explanation,” she said. Another resident, Fadhil (30), claimed to have experienced something similar to Vera when registering his marriage in October 2025. Fadhil explained that he initially faced issues with incomplete documents and was asked to correct them. After all requirements were declared complete, he was then asked for extra money. “At that time, my documents had problems and I was asked to fix them. After it was done, I was asked for around Rp 50,000,” said Fadhil when confirmed by Kompas.com via message on Friday (24/4/2026). Fadhil admitted he did not receive a detailed explanation regarding the reason for the money request. Although he felt it was suspicious, he chose to pay to ensure the administrative process went smoothly. “It wasn’t explained what it was for, but I thought rather than it being troublesome, I just gave it,” he said. This information circulated in a post on the Instagram account @dinaskegelapanbekasi. In the post, several residents claimed they were asked for various amounts of money beyond the official regulations when handling marriage administration. The post also mentioned that residents were asked to provide extra money by certain religious officials with varying amounts.