Surjadi slams reporters over ID operation reporting

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja blasted reporters yesterday for exaggerating reports on the city's identification card operation.

"I deplore the reports, which keep blaming us (the municipality)," Surjadi told reporters at City Hall.

He said the city did not have the ability to accommodate more people because of limited land availability. "But don't make generalizations about it (the operation). Jakarta isn't a closed city either," Surjadi said.

The municipality, he said, did not prevent people from entering the capital city for recreational or business purposes.

He said the operation was mainly intended to uphold city regulations on population control.

"If people want to stay in Jakarta, they should have documents, such as from their workplaces, or from neighborhood chiefs where they stay. If they don't have them, we'll ask them to go back to their hometowns," Surjadi said.

Surjadi said the municipality would explain the recent ID card operation to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Ministry of Home Affairs spokesman HSA Yusacc said on Friday that the city's ID card operation was against the national ID card program.

He said that under the national ID card system, besides bearing personal data, the ID card had a national identification number, which was valid throughout Indonesia, and would not change when a person moves to another city.

"Under the system, people who move to another city only need to inform officials in the city to get a new ID card," Yusacc said.

He also questioned city officials' request for travel documents and ignorance of ID cards from other cities.

"Should everyone in the city have Jakarta ID cards? What would happen if they were only passing through?" Yusacc said.

The head of the City Population Agency, Soemarto, said on Friday that there was no city regulation which stipulated that people from other cities had to bring travel documents to enter Jakarta.

"It's not true that people have to bring travel documents here. I've never ordered officials to ask for them either," Soemarto said.

He said that he would punish his subordinates who were found guilty of asking for travel documents during the operation. "People's ID cards are enough, they can come to the city anytime," Soemarto said.

The operation, which was launched last week, sparked a public outcry when people holding ID cards from other cities were fined between Rp 5,000 (US$2.08) and Rp 20,000 each.

The officers in charge of the operation asked people who were netted to present travel documents if they were not from Jakarta.

Meanwhile, another ID card operation, which was scheduled to be conducted in Tegal Alur subdistrict, West Jakarta, yesterday, was canceled indefinitely.

A public relations officer at the West Jakarta Mayoralty, Damiris, said the operation was postponed after a high-ranking official of the City Population Agency phoned the West Jakarta population agency.

"The postponement was made probably because of the many complaints from residents," she said.

West Jakarta Mayoralty conducted three operations last week in Kembangan, Palmerah and Kapuk districts.

Yesterday, some police officers left the Tegal Alur subdistrict office after being told that the operation was postponed.

"I don't know why the operation was postponed," Saad, a public order official at Tegal Alur subdistrict, said.

Tegal Alur is an industrial area in West Jakarta. (jun/ste/04)