It was 9 a.m. and Maha Daudi was in still her pajamas when she heard a knock on her apartment door in Senen, Central Jakarta.
Outside was a barrage of policemen, government officials and cameramen from various TV stations.
"The police asked for my maid's identity card and also my papers. I asked them to wait outside. But it seems they wanted to invade my house by forcing me to let them in," the British national, married to an Indonesian, recalled angrily.
Both parties then became embroiled in a shoving match for some time, with the cameras rolling. "Get out of my house!" Maha finally shouted to the officers in Indonesian.
That particular image, with the previous scenes edited out, was later aired nationwide by the media.
"I was about to go back in to get my papers. I asked them to wait outside," Maha told The Jakarta Post. "The officers acted out of line."
Thursday's fracas at the Mitra Oasis apartment block was the first in a series of raids dubbed Operasi Yustisi, organized by the Jakarta Population and Civil Registration Agency. Held throughout the city's five municipalities, it targeted 33 areas with a suspected high number of unskilled migrants.
The operation, carried out through random door-to-door searches, is an annual occurrence to check Jakarta residents for required documents. Authorities believe that after the Idul Fitri holidays each year, thousands make their way to Jakarta from rural areas in search of jobs.
In practice, however, the operation has come to target not only unskilled Indonesians, but everyone in the vicinity -- including foreign nationals.
Thursday's raids netted 830 residents, mostly in West Jakarta, without proper documentation: A Jakarta ID card (KTP) and a letter from an employer or a student card. About 430 of them were interviewed and taken for spot trials at the subdistrict office.
"The rest were released because they were able to produce (valid) papers," Franky Panjaitan, head of the city's population and civil registration agency, told the Post.
He added those arrested would have to pay Rp 10,000 (US$1) to Rp 25,000 in fines.
Five foreign nationals were netted during the operation. Three were released after showing their papers, while the other two -- from Cameroun and Nigeria -- were detained pending further investigations. (naf)
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