Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – They are valuable for criminals on the run; handy for men who want to take a second wife, and indispensable for people with little tolerance and time for the Indonesian bureaucracy.
The items in great demand are identification cards or KTP – a must have for Indonesians over 18 – issued by the government but bearing fake information.
Many people give false information when applying for their KTPs so as to avoid detection by the authorities. Some even apply for a second or third card, although having more than one KTP means a possible seven-year jail term.
Indonesia's disintegrating public-records system and its notoriously overlapping red tape makes this possible. Unless individuals are high-profile fugitives, famous celebrities or vulnerable politicians, most people get away with providing false information on their KTPs.
One famous personality who recently had a brush with the law over falsified data on his KTP is Justice and Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
Some disgruntled former members of his Crescent Star Party revealed that he had given a false address on the card, which he allegedly used to open two bank accounts to receive large amounts of illegal donations for his party.
Last month, the police found out that the fugitive son of former President Suharto, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, had managed to get a legitimate identity card for himself bearing the name Ibrahim. He has been in hiding from the authorities after being sentenced for 18 months for corruption.
Although used nationwide, the KTP is issued by the lowest level of administration dubbed the Kelurahan, with the approval of the local neighbourhood group (RT) and the community group (RW).
In Jakarta alone, there are 267 Kelurahans and more than 2,000 RTs and RWs. With middlemen colluding with underpaid Kelurahan staffers, getting a KTP is a breeze. "People use our service because we make their lives easier," said one middleman. "For less than 100,000 rupiah, you can have anything on your KTP." The sum is equivalent to S$20.
The authorities say most Indonesians use the middlemen to avoid the gruelling process of dealing with the bureaucracy. But it is known that some men obtain a second KTP in order to get a licence for their second or third marriage without the required consent of the first wives.
Some women who have children with a foreign spouse also resort to falsifying information on KTPs. Under the Indonesian patrilineal law, children of mixed nationalities naturally follow their father's nationality. But sometimes, the father's country of origin refuses to admit the child.
As in the case of well-known actress Ayu Azhari, who is married to a Finn. She is being investigated for using a fake birth certificate to get a passport for her three-year-old son.
The birth certificate, essential for obtaining a KTP, is another frequently forged document. In most cases, the authorities cannot do much to stop the rooted practice.
Immigration Department spokesman Ade Dahlan says the department cannot do checks to verify the details on the KTPs of those applying for passports. "We just have to trust them," he says. And even the police think they have "more pressing priorities" than to double check the data on the KTP unless individuals are caught committing crimes.