Travel document

Travel document

From Prospek

The regulation of the Jakarta Administration requires visitors
to Jakarta, even only for a short period, to take travel
documents with them. This indicates that the bureaucracy is still
maintaining a feudal attitude and retaining 400-year Dutch
colonial law. During the colonial period the colonial government
obliged one to bring a travel document when going from one region
to another, with the aim of supervising the colonized subjects.

Also the fact that the Jakarta Administration doubts the
authenticity of the identity cards and drivers' licenses issued
by other regions gives the impression that this country is not a
unitary republic, but a federal state.

Requiring travel documents for people going from one region to
another within the country is obviously not in line with the
principles of unity and integrity of the nation. I hope that
local governments, particularly the Jakarta Administration, make
a more flexible regulation for traveling purposes.

MUDJIB BIN ABDULLAH

Medan, North Sumatra