Monday, June 27, 2011

INDONESIA TO USE ELECTRONIC ID CARDS by Fardah

      Jakarta, June 27, 2011 (ANTARA) - As of 2011, the Indonesian government will start issuing electronic identification (e-ID) cards or locally called E-KTP for around 67 million people living in 187 districts/cities, out of a total of 178 eligible million throughout the country.
      "The remaining 105 million in 300 districts/cities (will have e-ID cards) in 2012," Dr Hammam Riza, head of the communications and information technology center of the Technology Application and Study Agency (BPPT), said here recently.

      Mandated by Decree No.23/2006 on demographic administration, e-ID card pilot projects were carried out in six sub districts in six districts, by involving around 150,000 residents in 2010.
      The pilot projects were conducted in Padang (West Sumatra), Cirebon (West Java), Jembrana (Bali), Denpasar (Bali) and Makassar (South Sulawesi).
      The home affairs ministry has allocated a total budget amounting to Rp6.3 trillion from the state budget for the application of the e-ID cards, including for the logistics such as cards, card readers, finger print scanners, cameras, signature pads, servers, and trainings for 40,000 operators in every district/city.
      "We need to be careful with the budget because it requires around Rp 6 trillion ($642 million)," Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzie said here last year.
      The minister has asked the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to help monitor the project to prevent corruption in its procurement.
     KPK Deputy Chief Mochammad Jasin last year said KPK was ready to monitor this project and would not tolerate any irregularities.

The e-ID card project has been long planned as part of a government initiative to give every citizen a single 16-digit identity number. Each card will display a photo, name and identity number.


The e-ID cards will have inserted-8-kb chips containing 27 kinds of information and using 10 finger-print and eye biometric system of each resident.


The information include marital status, blood type, parents` name and employment, physical or mental disabilities, birth certificate, divorce certificate, place and date of birth, biometric finger prints of all fingers and a photograph. Most of this information will be stored electronically.


The project of the life-long Population Identity Numbers (NIK) has been carried out nation-wide from 2010 to 2011. The e-ID card project is expected to be completed in 2012.


"The objective of the e-ID cards is to prevent ID forgery or multiple ID possession, so every resident will only have one ID. Besides, the e-ID cards can also be used for other purposes, such as banking, taxation, insurance and Direct Cash Assistance," Hammam said.


"Jembrana District is a success example, but later on, they have to change their Jembrana ID cards to the national e-ID cards because the national Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) checking is different," he said, expressing his optimism that the target would be achieved as scheduled.


The nation-wide application of E-ID cards will also become a basis for the issuance of other important documents such as passports, driving licenses, NPWP (tax identification number), insurance po;icies, and land certificates.


More than that, Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi believed that the E-ID cards would help improve public services which are currently considered to be very poor due to corruption and long-winded bureaucratic processes.


The e-ID cards would also provide accuracy in voter counts for general and regional elections. State security would also benefit as the use of two ID cards could be minimized as terrorists and other criminals usually hold multiple identity cards, the minister said in Batam, Riau Islands Province, last year.


Some cities preparing the issuance of E-ID cards this year include Badung (Bali) with targets of round 400,000 people in August 2011; Sidoarjo (East Java) with 1.5 million eligiblae people next month, Tarakan (East Kalimantan) and Pringsewu (Lampung).


Starting August 2011, the West Jakarta municipal administration will provide residents in its jurisdiction with e-ID cards.


The policy is in line with the central government`s program, Ahmad Fauzi of the West Jakarta city administration said here recently.


"The new policy on the application (of E-ID cards) nationally is carried out by the government for the sake of accuracy of population data in every region, and to avoid multiple ID card problem which is quite common until now," Ahmad Fauzi said.


The procedures of the E-ID card production include the verification of data on inhabitants aged above 17 years old.


The inhabitants later are required to go to the "kelurahan" office for finger print recording, photo and signatures. The data will directly be sent to the home affairs ministry for verification and later printing of their ID cards.


Basically, the E-ID cards will be similar to the normal ID Cards and have the same national main identification numbers (NIK). The difference is the E-ID cards will have chips in the middle.


"With the chips, it will be very difficult to have double or multiple ID cards, because the E-ID cards with chips are only issued by the Home Affairs Ministry," Fauzi said.


The population data will also be made online accessible throughout the country, so no one can make double or multiple ID cards from other regions, he said.


Hopefully, there will be no more cases such as those of Melinda Lee who have reportedly had four ID cards and her husband, Andhika Gumilang having six ID cards. The couple have been accused of being involved in the Citibank embezzlement case.
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(T.F001/A/F001/O001) 27-06-2011 13:52:42

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