Jakarta begins crackdown on newcomers
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 10/15/2009 8:29 AM
Show us your IDs: Officers from the city administration check newcomers’ identity cards during a crackdown in Kemayoran, Jakarta on Thursday. Some of the residents admitted they did not have official domicile documents. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)
The Jakarta administration has launched a two-day crackdown on post-Idul Fitri job seekers that lack proper documentation.
The operation began at 8 a.m. on Thursday and those caught will face trial at local district courts on Friday.
Jakarta Population and Civil Registry Agency head Franky Mangatas Panjaitan said that each municipal administration would deploy between 80 to 100 agency personnel from the public order agency and the local prosecutor's offices.
The administration is targeting rental houses, boarding houses and apartments near industrial and commercial areas, including Pulogadung, Tanjung Priok, Tanah Abang and Taman Sari.
The city is predicting there will be around 69,000 newcomers after this year's Idul Fitri, a decrease from last year's 88,000.
Jakarta is still a magnet for people from less developed towns and rural areas looking for jobs. Thousands of job-seekers arrive in the city annually joining the mass return of Idul Fitri vacationers.
A 2004 city ordinance on civil registration and a 2006 gubernatorial decree on guidelines for handling newcomers stipulate that migrants are required to have a letter stating they have moved from their original domicile and have a permanent job and a place to live in the city.
