E

xperts have criticized the National Police’s newly launched nationwide fingerprint identification system saying that it could result in wasteful spending and would likely overlap with the central government’s electronic ID project.

The critics said that most functions of the police’s Indonesia Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (Inafis) were similar to that of the e-ID project organized by the Home Affairs Ministry.

Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said last week that the police’s fingerprint recording system was indeed similar to that of the e-IDs. But, Gamawan denied suggestions that the National Police wasted money on the Inafis project.

“The police’s interest is different. They will utilize the fingerprint data for investigation purposes or crime prevention. Ours is aimed at easing administrative matters, such as supporting election data,” he said at the Presidential Office on Friday.

Home Ministry spokesman Reydonnyzar “Doni” Moenek said that the police could retrieve fingerprint data from e-IDs to support the force’s investigations or intelligence.

“The e-ID is flexible, in the sense that the data it contains can be accessed by other government agencies for various purposes. The Police, the Financial Transaction Analysis and Reports Centre [PPATK] or other agencies, can contact us to access the data,” Doni said.

The Inafis card contains fingerprints and criminal records of a particular citizen. E-ID cards record fingerprints and eye retinas of the cardholder.

 National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo claimed Inafis and the e-ID data could support each other. “We will establish a link between the two systems,” he said, declining to elaborate. When asked about the total cost of the Inafis project, Timur claimed he did not have the data.

Analysts say that the Inafis system requires sophisticated equipment which might cost trillions of rupiah for little or no purpose.

“The Inafis card is useless, everything in it is covered by the e-ID. An Inafis card will only thicken my wallet when it has no banknotes,” Indonesia Police Watch activist Neta S. Pane said on Saturday.

Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) legal complaints bureau head Sularsi said the setting up of Inafis was an indication of government failure to streamline the bureaucracy.

“The people now need to go to their local administration office to make an e-ID card and then go to the police for the Inafis. This is inefficient,” she said.

“What we actually need is to optimize data recorded in the e-ID by establishing a platform that allows other agencies, such as the police, to access and process the data for their purpose,” Sularsi added.

Sularsi said that the Rp 35,000 (US$3.82) paid for each Inafis was unnecessary. “Why should people pay for something with no benefit?” she asked.

While e-IDs are mandatory, Inafis will not be. “However, we encourage all citizens to apply for the card, so that if they become victims of a crime, we can identify them and process their case quickly,” said National Police chief detective Insp. Gen. Sutarman.