RI's birth registration system still poor
RI's birth registration system still poor
JAKARTA (JP): Plan International, a British based
non-government organization, blames the country's poor birth
registration system on unaccounted newborn babies nationwide.
Nono Sumarsono, Plan International representative in
Indonesia, said the organization estimated that 30 percent of all
newborn babies were not covered by civilian registration offices
nationwide each year.
"According to our annual surveys, one out of three newborn
babies is not registered because of the poor civil registration
system and the centralization of registration offices in
regencies and mayoralties," Nono said in a meeting with Minister
of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Surjadi Soedirdja here on
Monday.
He said most parents, mostly in rural and remote areas, were
reluctant to have their newly born children registered at civil
registration offices because of the distance between their home
villages and registration offices in the regency capitals and of
the fees they had to pay for the registration.
"Most people, especially in rural and remote areas, are not
aware of the importance of the birth registration, while the
birth registration offices are not proactive enough in carrying
out their mission because of the absence of the government's
strong political will," he said.
Jap van der Straten, secretary of UN's Asia Birth Registration
Committee, said the poor birth registration system in Indonesia
had a lot to do with discriminative birth registration
regulations which were inherited from the Dutch colonial
administration.
"According to the rulings that are still effective till now,
the birth registration is based on race, religion and social
status so that many newborn babies of families whose religion is
not included in the list of religions recognized by the
government, or those from unlisted ethnic groups, are not
registered," he said.
He said that during the Dutch colonial era, only babies of
Muslim and Christian parents and of royal, bureaucrat and rich
families, were registered.
Der Straten said the birth registration was important in line
with the protection of child rights in Indonesia and the
improvement of their health condition.
He said millions of children in Indonesia have been exploited
for commercial purposes. He cited street children who have been
exploited by their parents to work as beggars or employed to work
in fisheries and home industries, and of underage women employed
in red-light districts and massage centers.
"Numerous workers have been exported overseas with fake
documents and marked-up ages because of the absence of their
birth registration certificates," he said, while criticizing the
immigration offices for issuing passports with fake birth
registration certificates.
Der Straten suggested that the government should make a new
law on birth registration which was equally obligatory for all
newborn children and intensify the national education program to
send school-age children to school.
He said Indonesia could save a lot of money if the birth
registration is launched as a national program, so that it would
not be necessary to hold the five-yearly population census.
"Indonesia could learn from Belgium and Thailand that have had
an integral birth registration system so that people in the two
countries need no 'master identity' card for their bank purposes
because they have their own birth registration certificates," he
said.
He said the Asia Birth Committee was organizing a five-day
workshop in Jakarta and Surabaya, starting on Monday, to share
experience on birth registration among 80 participating
countries, including Thailand, Bangladesh, China, India and host
Indonesia. (rms)
JAKARTA (JP): Plan International, a British based
non-government organization, blames the country's poor birth
registration system on unaccounted newborn babies nationwide.
Nono Sumarsono, Plan International representative in
Indonesia, said the organization estimated that 30 percent of all
newborn babies were not covered by civilian registration offices
nationwide each year.
"According to our annual surveys, one out of three newborn
babies is not registered because of the poor civil registration
system and the centralization of registration offices in
regencies and mayoralties," Nono said in a meeting with Minister
of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Surjadi Soedirdja here on
Monday.
He said most parents, mostly in rural and remote areas, were
reluctant to have their newly born children registered at civil
registration offices because of the distance between their home
villages and registration offices in the regency capitals and of
the fees they had to pay for the registration.
"Most people, especially in rural and remote areas, are not
aware of the importance of the birth registration, while the
birth registration offices are not proactive enough in carrying
out their mission because of the absence of the government's
strong political will," he said.
Jap van der Straten, secretary of UN's Asia Birth Registration
Committee, said the poor birth registration system in Indonesia
had a lot to do with discriminative birth registration
regulations which were inherited from the Dutch colonial
administration.
"According to the rulings that are still effective till now,
the birth registration is based on race, religion and social
status so that many newborn babies of families whose religion is
not included in the list of religions recognized by the
government, or those from unlisted ethnic groups, are not
registered," he said.
He said that during the Dutch colonial era, only babies of
Muslim and Christian parents and of royal, bureaucrat and rich
families, were registered.
Der Straten said the birth registration was important in line
with the protection of child rights in Indonesia and the
improvement of their health condition.
He said millions of children in Indonesia have been exploited
for commercial purposes. He cited street children who have been
exploited by their parents to work as beggars or employed to work
in fisheries and home industries, and of underage women employed
in red-light districts and massage centers.
"Numerous workers have been exported overseas with fake
documents and marked-up ages because of the absence of their
birth registration certificates," he said, while criticizing the
immigration offices for issuing passports with fake birth
registration certificates.
Der Straten suggested that the government should make a new
law on birth registration which was equally obligatory for all
newborn children and intensify the national education program to
send school-age children to school.
He said Indonesia could save a lot of money if the birth
registration is launched as a national program, so that it would
not be necessary to hold the five-yearly population census.
"Indonesia could learn from Belgium and Thailand that have had
an integral birth registration system so that people in the two
countries need no 'master identity' card for their bank purposes
because they have their own birth registration certificates," he
said.
He said the Asia Birth Committee was organizing a five-day
workshop in Jakarta and Surabaya, starting on Monday, to share
experience on birth registration among 80 participating
countries, including Thailand, Bangladesh, China, India and host
Indonesia. (rms)