Dozens of local residents waited in line as early as 3 a.m. on Thursday at a Public Service Mall (MPP) located inside the Atrium Pondok Gede shopping mall in Bekasi, West Java, just to obtain a ticket number for processing their e-ID cards.

“If I didn’t come before subuh [the dawn prayer], I would not get a ticket number. And then printing [my] e-ID card would be delayed," Murtiah, 49, said on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com. “[...] Waking up [before dawn] is no problem, what is important is that my e-ID is printed.”

The acting head of the Bekasi Capital Investment and One-Stop Integrated Services Agency (DPMPTSP), Lintong Dianto, said the agency only issued 200 numbered tickets per day, in line with the daily quota for e-ID cards. He added that the tickets usually ran out in 30 minutes.

Lintong said that residents who were unable to obtain a ticket number could visit the agency's offices in East Bekasi, where it offered services such as issuing birth certificates and temporary e-ID cards.

He added that Bekasi Mayor Rahmat Effendi had criticized the agency's decision to provide the service so early, saying that it was inhuman for the agency's officials to start work at 3 a.m. outside their official working hours from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“It would be more inhumane if we made the people wait five hours from 3 a.m. until the MPP opens at 8 a.m,” said Lintong. “We decided to provide the ticket numbers earlier with the hope that [residents] could go home first and then come back later to pick up their [finished] e-ID cards.” (sau)