Indonesia proposes expansion of its digital migrant IDs to sailors

The Indonesian government is pushing for the free issuance of Electronic Indonesian Migrant Worker (E-PMI) IDs for seafarers already registered with the Ministry of Transportation.

Sailors working in the fishing and commercial shipping industry would receive the identity for free, according to a proposal submitted by Christina Aryani, deputy minister for Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (Wamen P2MI).

“We proposed that there be a free provision of PMI (E-PMI) ID to sailors working abroad, who have previously been included in the system of the Ministry of Transportation,” Aryani said on Monday, according to Antara News.

The E-PMI is a digital identification system designed to better protect and track Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) by offering them official identification. The ID system is connected to the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Computerization System (SISKOP2MI), which collects biometric fingerprint data from migrants.

Last year, Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah backed the digitalization of the PMI system, noting that the technology would make it easier for the government to monitor the whereabouts and conditions of migrant workers.

“We have entered the era of digitalization, and the PMI placement management must be carried out in an integrated system between the system owned by the destination country and the system in Indonesia,” says Fauziyah.

Meanwhile, Indonesia is also working on expanding the use of digital IDs within the country. In February, the Southeast Asian country announced it would be digitizing its civil registration services, Dukcapil. Dukcapil’s digital ID service platform Identitas Kependudukan Digital (IKD) is also supposed to ease the switch from physical to digital documents.

Article Topics

digital ID  |  Electronic Indonesian Migrant Worker (E-PMI) ID  |  identity document  |  identity management  |  Indonesia