Surabayans told to activate email accounts by mid year

Indra Harsaputra
he Jakarta Post/ Surabaya

The Surabaya municipality has announced all persons over the age of 17 must have an email address to apply for identity cards by the middle of the year, as part of the city's aim to become the first multimedia city in Indonesia.

Surabaya Mayor Bambang Dwi Hartono said the insertion of an email address on an identity card was aimed at facilitating the demographic data process, as 90 percent of the city's total population of about 2.7 million have ID cards.

"The new program is just in front of our eyes and the Information Technology and Communications Management Center in Surabaya (BPTIK) is developing it thoroughly now. It is expected to facilitate the ID card issuance process," said Bambang, after signing an agreement on Surabaya's development as a multimedia city with PT Telkom state telecommunications company at Surabaya City Hall recently.

Bambang said the program would also expedite releasing information to residents, such as in the event of disasters floods in the city.

"On top of that, people can also send criticisms and suggestions to the government by e-mail," he added.

Bambang said the administration also planned to produce an ID card which could be used for transactions, similar to an ATM card.

He added the program was also expected to improve people's welfare and alleviate poverty in the city by encouraging those in the lower income brackets to learn to use the Internet as a means to expand their trades.

BPTIK head Najib Usman said only those who had email addresses could include them on their ID cards when the program commenced in the middle of the year, while others would be provided with lessons on using the Internet and email.

"We hope residents, regardless of their income brackets in Surabaya, will be well versed in the Internet. The administration will also subsidize Internet expenses when the free trial contract with Telkom expires, so city residents can still benefit from the Internet cheaply," he said.

Najib said he is confident the program will run smoothly and that using the Internet will be as common as using a mobile phone.

The municipality has established wi-fi networks in a number of areas in the city, such as in Taman Bungkul on Jl. Darmo and Taman Prestasi in Ngagel district.

Internet users can make use of the facilities for free because PT Telkom, an internet service provider, has exempted fees during the trial period, which will last until March.

Communications and Information Minister Muhammad Nuh, also former rector of the 10th November Surabaya Institute of Technology (ITS), said PT Telkom had since November last year installed 33 wi-fi hotspot areas in each city square across the province.

Thanks to a number of companies involved in the corporate social responsibility program, the public can use them for free.

"We hope the whole people of East Java will become well versed in the internet in 2008, and become the first e-province in Indonesia," said Nuh.

Head of the ITS Disaster Study Center Amien Widodo said he hoped people living in disaster-prone areas could benefit from the program.

"We are currently developing a program which could spread information on the risk of natural disasters to residents. This program can be posted via email or text messages," said Nuh.

To educate residents on the Internet, the administration has set up multimedia training centers to provide free lessons to low income people, such as the one in Bojonegoro, built by hardware and software company Microsoft.

There, many have successfully developed their agricultural products and improved their livelihoods after being able to use the internet to find information on their work.

A similar facility is available in the Rungkut residential area in Surabaya