Legal Identity Process in Bagan Asahan, North Sumatra
Commitment to increase legal identity for poor people
On 14-15 January 2015, AIPJ together with PUSKAPA and the Women Headed Household Empowerment Group (PEKKA) held a Multi-Stakeholder Forum in Jakarta bringing together the key stakeholders to discuss 'Clear, Easy and Affordable Basic Public Services for Legal Identity Ownership’ in Indonesia.
Over 200 people from PEKKA, government officials from Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Supreme Court participated in the forum. Religious Affairs Offices from 19 provinces were also present to work together on building a commitment towards legal identity for poor people. The event was opened by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for Non-Judicial Affairs, Suwardi, who conveyed appreciation for the collaboration between AIPJ, MOHA, PEKKA and PUSKAPA in supporting the enhancement of services for legal identity. The main focus was on birth certificates and marriage legalisation.
"Legal identity, especially birth certificate, is an essential requirement and the initial step to accessing basic services and social protection. However, based on the National Economic and Social Survey (SUSENAS) 2013, only 52% of Indonesian children between 0-17 years have a birth certificate," said PEKKA Director, Nani Zulminarni. "In other words, nearly half of Indonesia’s children do not have a birth certificate," she added. In the end, poor and marginalised people have fewer opportunities to find proper livelihoods, access to education and basic health services.
The forum presented policy developments concerning administration for legal identity. "The Supreme Court has issued regulations on the guidelines for legal aid services for the poor (PERMA No.1/2014) and marriage legalisation through mobile courts (SEMA No.3/2014) as an effort to broaden access to marriage legalisation for the poor," said Deputy Chief Justice of Development Affairs of the Supreme Court, Takdir Rahmadi. "We plan to follow up on marriage legalisation regulatons for poor non-moslems," he explained. MOHA has also revised the law on registering a child's birth. Birth certificates that are issued after the one-year limit will no longer require a court decision. Civil certificates can now be issued at the place of residence.
The forum concluded with a commitment from each institution to encourage service enhancement on legal identity, especially for the poor. The Central Government including Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Religion Affairs and the Supreme Court – has stated their commitment to issue a regulation to complete existing policies. MOHA also committed to encourage the increase of funding to implement integrated services so that the local budget is no longer used for the services.
Each representative of Disdukcapil, General Courts, Religious Courts and KUAs also set a target to focus on legal identity within the next two years. This translates to a cumulative target to issue more than 1 million documents in 2015-2016 in the 19 provinces that participated in this national forum.
