Viral Story of Mother in West Bandung Struggling with Birth Certificate Processing Ends Up in the Hands of a Broker

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, WEST BANDUNG – The story of a mother who expressed disappointment with the services at the Public Service Mall (MPP) in West Bandung Regency (KBB), West Java, which ended up with her turning to a broker to process a birth certificate, has gone viral on social media. In her statement, the mother claimed she was rejected by the officer on the grounds that services had closed. Although she said she had queued for several hours, she ended up not being served due to the quota being full. Ironically, the administrative process was completed quickly through the assistance of a broker at the same location. The mother is Siti Bariah (25 years old), a resident of Cibitung Village, Rongga Subdistrict, who returned to the MPP office in the West Bandung Regency Government Office Complex on Wednesday (29/4/2026). She met directly with the Regent of West Bandung, Jeje Ritchie Ismail. Siti recounted her experience of handling population administration documents until she met the broker, which occurred on Monday (27/4/2026). She arrived in the morning hoping to complete the processing of the birth certificate and child identity card (KIA) in one day. “I came from Cibitung, Rongga to handle population administration for making a birth certificate and KIA. I arrived at 09:00 WIB, after a 2-hour journey, but didn’t get the morning queue and was asked to wait until afternoon,” Siti explained to reporters. After waiting for hours, Siti finally got queue number 0125. However, when her turn came, her documents were rejected by the officer on the grounds that the system had closed because the day’s service quota was full. “When it was my turn, they said the system was already closed because the quota was full. Even though I had waited a long time,” said Siti. Not long after, Siti said she was approached by a man who offered quick document processing services. The man is suspected to be a broker taking advantage of the limited service situation. She was asked to pay Rp 200,000 until completion. “Not long after that, a man offered services to process the birth certificate. He said he could help even though the system was closed. But I had to pay Rp 200,000, in the end I paid Rp 160,000,” she said. The Regent of West Bandung, Jeje Ritchie Ismail, said he had met directly with Siti to hear the chronology of the incident. He mentioned that there was a miscommunication in the service that occurred. “It’s true, today I have met directly with Mrs Siti who went viral for being difficult in processing the birth certificate. Earlier I talked and asked about the chronology. So besides there being miscommunication, this becomes material for our evaluation,” said Jeje. The West Bandung Regency Government promises to follow up on these findings and conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the service system at the MPP to prevent similar practices from recurring in the future.