Rp 6.7 trillion identity card project under KPK’s monitoring

Irawaty Wardany, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/29/2009 8:27 AM

The Home Ministry has asked the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to monitor the disbursement of Rp 6.7 trillion (US$710 million) of state money in the establishment of a single identity number (SIN) for each Indonesian citizen by 2011.

The ministry also asked the KPK to check if the Rp 800 billion spent so far on the project was correctly used, with Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi visiting KPK’s office Monday to discuss.

“We hope the KPK will support us monitoring the implementation of the project throughout Indonesia so that we can avoid violation and corruption,” Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said.

KPK deputy chairman for prevention M. Jasin said according to the 2006 Law on Demography Administration, the Home Ministry had only five years after the law was enacted to realize the program.

“Considering the tight deadline and huge budget used for the program we need to supervise its process,” Jasin said.

He added as mandated in the 2002 KPK Law, the commission must monitor and evaluate government programs, especially those considered prone to corrupt practice.

During its supervision to the ministry’s demography administration directorate general, demography agencies and civil record offices in regions throughout the nation since January, the KPK found possible fund misuse that could hamper realization of the program, Jasin said.

He said that his office found that some goods had been procured in connection to the programs, but were not used.

The KPK recommended the Home Ministry audit the information technology and system used in the demographic system for the SIN card, while developing connections between the central data base to main data centers in provinces, regencies and cities.

“We hope the ministry also reports on goods procurement so far.”

In 2004, the Home Ministry announced to the public that Indonesia would give each citizen a SIN for use in various administrative system records and documents.

The SIN system was aimed at organizing citizens’ data better, making it more difficult for people to have multiple ID cards (KTP), and to pare down civil registry bureaucracy.

Then home minister Hari Sabarno estimated it would take more than five years to change the current demographic administration system, because most regencies were struggling with power supplies and telephone lines.

Five years have passed, but no significant changes to the civil registry have arisen and preparations for the SIN system in many regions remain unfinished.

The last general elections, many said, exemplified why Indonesia needed to reform its civil registry system. Many citizens had at least two ID cards, while many others could not get voting cards.

Just recently, Jakarta felt the weight of the problem when police revealed that at least one suspected terrorist involved in the JW Marriott bombing had checked into his room using a fake KTP.

The SIN system will provide each citizen with a unique number for documents, including identity cards, passports, driving licenses, insurance policies, land certificates, property ownership documents and tax cards.