Bank's bureaucracy

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 04/28/2006 10:58 AM  |  Opinion

Over the last couple of weeks we have been reading about intentions by ministers to simplify the process for foreigners to apply to live and work here.

I recently extended my temporary stay permit (KITAS) and other than some signatures, which took all of three minutes, including the signatures of my two kids, the process was very smooth. I believe that this was due to both the excellent preparation by my office staff and the ""system"" getting more organized (not less complex yet).

Recently I went to the bank (BCA) to withdraw some money. I have been a customer at this bank for many years and all this time I have used my KITAS (which has to be photocopied for every transaction) for the processing. I suddenly was asked for my passport by one of the supervisors. Fortunately, I happened to have it on me so it was not a problem.

But what I am asking myself is why a bank like BCA, which has copies of all my documents, needs photocopies of my passport (which I normally do not carry with me) while the Indonesian government has issued various legally valid identity documents such as the KITAS, SKLD, KIP (new to me) and SIM.

While on one hand there are people trying to make the system more friendly to foreigners, other parts of the system are countering these efforts with rules that make little or no sense. I don't know how many foreigners actually carry their passports with them when they go around in Jakarta but I don't because that document is the most valuable means of identification we have and if it gets lost or stolen we are in big trouble.

J.A. VAN ZWIENEN
Jakarta

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