Residents complain of illegal levies

TANGERANG: Residents of Grendeng subdistrict in Tangerang complained about the illegal levies imposed by local officials for the application process of documents such as ID cards, family cards and birth certificates.

One of the residents, Sandra, said on Tuesday that an official at the subdistrict office asked her for Rp 20,000 to speed up the processing of an ID card application, which would then be ready within a day.

"The official told me that if I was not willing to give him the money, I would have to wait for at least a week or two," she said.

Meanwhile, Hengky S., head of community unit 8 in the subdistrict, said that illegal levies usually ranged from Rp 15,000 to Rp 30,000.

Starting January 2001, mayor M. Thamrin ordered all subdistrict offices in the municipality to no longer impose any fees on residents who applied for documents at subdistrict offices.

The subdistrict chief, Muchtar, denied that his officials collected illegal levies from residents, saying that the accusation was made by people who had a personal grudge against him. --JP