Indonesia urges massive signup for new digital ID to ease access to public services

Indonesian authorities are calling on citizens to activate the Identitas Kependudukan Digital (IKD) as the government is looking forward to simplifying access to public and private sector services.

Explaining the importance of the digital ID recently, the Director General in charge of Population and Civil Registration in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Teguh Setyabudi, says with it, citizens no longer need to show up at government offices to get services, as Gov insider reports.

The official said while over 200 million citizens are encouraged to activate the digital ID application which uses passwords and biometrics on their mobile devices, the country also intends to digitize all government services within the first half of this year in line with a directive issued early last month by President Joko Widodo.

The digital ID, Setyabudi says, will be useful for everyone, but especially for citizens living in remote communities and those with mobility problems, who can, among other documents, verify their identity cards, family cards, and birth certificates in an easy, secure and stress-free many.

Other than its design to enable inclusion, the IKD application, which has a user-friendly interface, will also function as a digital wallet on which personal credentials can be stored.

For the moment, under 8 million of the 220 million people expected to activate the digital ID have already done so, meaning the government still has enormous work if it must reach its target by June this year.

Nonetheless, Setyabudi says the strategy of the Directorate of Population and Civil Registration to ramp up the registration figures includes the opening of service posts in all branch offices in districts and cities to serve more people, while teams have also been dispatched to communities to meet people.

At this stage, the government says it is calling on all relevant partners to join in and support the campaign for effective IKD uptake.

The IKD digital ID project is an important component in the building of Indonesia’s digital public infrastructure and among the prioritized digital government applications which the government is pushing to popularize.

Late last year, the country amended its laws to allow for the introduction of the digital ID project.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital government  |  digital ID  |  digital wallets  |  Identitas Kependudukan Digital (IKD)  |  Indonesia