Unspun

What’s presposterous about the case where a Bali Post journalist was allegedly detained by the Regent of Jembrana in Bali is not only that a Regent would stoop so low as to detain a journalist pursuing a potentially embarrassing story but that any Indonesian needs a special permit to live and work in a particular part of his or her own country.

The Regent is under the spotlight because the Bali Post over the past few days have run a series of investigative reports on the costly development projects in the regency. So when the reporter Luh Ari Sri Lestari started questioning the regent he decided to detain her on the pretext that she did not have a KIPEM, an identity card for temporary residents in Bali. Without it Ari cannot technocally live and work in Bali. This is not so much a case of infringement of press freedom but of the basic right of a citizento move about freely in his or her own country.
Unspun understands that Indonesians have to have similiar identity cards if they want to work in Jakarta and other cities. This is outrageous. Surely a citizen has the right to live and work whenever he or she wishes to in their own country?

At any rate, policies like this never work and only end up being an extra source of income for corrupted officers. It is surely the responsibility of national leaders to ensure that development and work opportunities are spread out relatively evdenly between ruraql and urban areas. It is also the responsibility of city authorities to manage the inevitaqble flux of migrants from rural areas.  But they must do so through economic means, not by legal means that violate a citizen’s rights.