Head of the Council’s commission A overseeing population issues, Ida Mahmuda, said that census officers should try to complete their interview in the first meeting with residents if possible.

“It doubles the workload [if officers meet the residents several times for the census],” she said.

In the first leg of the census, from May 1-8, officers only listed the number of people living in the house.

The officers are scheduled to glean more detailed information on the residents with 43 questions during the second leg, which will end on May 31.

Sarah Balelang, a financial adviser of an insurance company, said she was unsure whether officers could meet her again in the second leg as they did not schedule an appointment with her.

“In the first round, officers arrived just before I left my house for work one morning,” the resident
of Pondok Gede, East Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Sunday.

Sarah said that she could not guarantee that the officers could meet her again given her hectic schedule this month.

Meanwhile, BPS Jakarta head Agus Suherman claimed that his bureau had tried to be flexible.
Agus said that the agency allowed census officers to conduct one interview if they considered it too difficult to meet residents again.

The field officers, he said, were required to ask permission of field coordinators and the district coordinator via text message.

“The decision can be made quickly because coordinators are always on standby,” he said.

Agus did not explain how the officers ensured they could meet residents again in the second leg.

He said having two rounds was in accordance with standard procedure required by the agency.

The agency expects to receive rough data on the number of residents and buildings within
a week.

“If we only conduct one interview, it could take one month to receive the total number of residents and buildings,” he said.

He asserted the first leg was also in place to help officers map the coverage area to ensure they did not miss residents.

Agus called on civil servants in the subdistricts and districts to facilitate the census officers in doing their work, especially in dealing with residents who were reluctant to participate in the census.

Agus said that the agency would require residents to sign a statement declaring their refusal to take part in the census.

Separately, population expert Sri Moertiningsih Adioetomo from the University of Indonesia urged the government to intensify its campaign on the census.

Sri said that massive campaign should be undertaken by the government to ensure that all residents took part in the census given that the outcome of the census would be used to address many demographic issues in the country, including poverty.

The outcome of the census would also be in line with the government’s plan to impose single identity numbers for citizens aside from the use of the data for elections.

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