NO ADDITIONAL BUDGET FOR ELECTONIC ID-CARD PROGRAM

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (Kemendagri) underscored there was no additional budget for Bud­get Year 2013 for recording of 172,426,571 Elec­tronic ID-Card (e-KTP). The State Budget (APBN) 2012 for making e-KTP reached Rp5.8 trillion, but due to limited state budget, the amount available was only around Rp4.7 trillion for 2012. The rest would be carried over to budget year 2014 as follow up of the said program with the consortium. “Again we underscore there is no additional budget, but there is still left over budget of Rp1.04 trillion which was not being used for budget year 2012” the Minister of internal Affairs Gamawan Fauzi disclosed to Business News (9/11).

The Ministry of Internal Affairs admitted the numerous complaints of Government servants at the District Offices (kelurahan), so the Counseling Pro­gram of the Ministry for the Provincial Governments would be prioritized until next year. This was in ac­cordance with Law no 32/2004 (BN/no. 71512 page 98 – 288) and Government Regulations no 38/2007 (BN no 7576 page 1B-6B) on distribution of duties between the Central Government, Provincial Gov­ernment and Regencies/Cities. “So if there was any official who addressed complaints to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they could be asked to refer the Rules and Regulations” Minister Gamawan was quoted as saying.

The Minister also denied accusations of fail­ure of his Ministry in managing e-ID Card. Recording of elementary data for a-ID Card was in the beginning difficult even to reach the target of more than 172 million citizens. Germany once did the same thing, but Germany’s population was much less than Indonesia. To serve 60 million Germans, it took them 6 years to accomplish. Moreover, Indonesia’s geographic condi­tion was more difficult in which to access the people. The process of making e-ID Card started from the eastern tip of Indonesia, Papua, North Maluku until Aceh in the West. “Evidently in the first 55 days we had accomplished 14 thousand recordings. Now it is up to the people to judge” Minister Gamawan re­marked.

Recording of e-KTP had met target. The Min­istry of Internal Affairs announced that target to re­cord 172,015,400 people was accomplished on No­vember 6, 2012, In terms of completion deadline, originally target was set for December 31, 2012. Until November 7, 2012, recording of e-ID Card hard reached 172,426,571 citizens. “For those who had not signed in, we give them time till end of this year, so don't worry” Gamawan said.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs noted there were 206 regencies/cities which bad exceeded e-ID card recording target. Meanwhile there were 74 re­gents/cities who had not fully accomplished. The Minister also felt sure of the physical quality of e-ID card. One of the most essential thing was that e-ID Card could minimize or even eliminate double card ownership. However, during the entire recording process many people signed in for two or even three recordings. “But all had been detected. Falsifying of elementary data included various aspects starting from original name to date of birth, photo, etc. We have a data Center so applicant could not falsify data” the Minister remarked.

An example was an Indonesia citizen of Chinese origin had his original Chinese name in Jambi. When he moved to Medan, he used another name which was Indonesian name; but since the photograph was the same data could not be falsified. The same happened with citizens who falsified their pho­tograph. In the first photography they used moustache, beard etc. Even falsified data of birth could be easily detected. “All were recorded from the finger­print, and eyes on the face. So any effort to falsify data would be useless. In fact they are charged with criminal law, but we cannot their data, ex­cept in case of emergency such as proving in the court etc”.

Eighty nine million of a-ID card had been printed and distributed. Those which were not printed were expected to be printed end distributed by May 2013. Distribution of e-Id Card was free of charge. Any official who impose and charges would be sanc­tioned and legally processed. But by Business News observation in many District offices there were still many officials who were arrogant and authoritative. An official in the Kelurahen of Kebon KJosong Ke­mayoran was reported by the citizens for his attitude. The reported who refused to have his name mentioned came to the as for his e-Id Card and was told to come back the next day. He came back the next day as he was told, the officer said that his Card had been delivered to RT/RW. “But the official offered his service to take the card at the District of­fice with his help. I came back the next day and the official said the card ‘was not ready’. I think this is too much, they table-tennised me to carne back and forth. Meanwhile I sent an SMS but was not replied, I came to the District office at the cost of leaving my office. In addition to that the official was arrogant, there was no sense of serving the public at all as he was supposed to, it was very annoying. I begin to think to report the case to the Ombudsaman Body” the citizen said.

Business New - November 14, 2012