Driving licenses available online

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A convenient new system allowing motorists to renew their driving licenses online was recently introduced in the capital.

The new system, established by the National Police, is also available to motorists in Greater Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Yogyakarta, Banten, Bali, Lampung and South Sulawesi.

The head of the driving license section at the Jakarta Police headquarters, Comr. Gatot Subroto, said the regional headquarters was using an online database system that recognized every license issued in each region using the system.

"With the new system, driving licenses will be valid at the national level. This means motorists who obtained their driving licenses in Banten, for example, could renew their licenses at the Jakarta Police headquarters," Gatot told The Jakarta Post.

Jakarta introduced the new service on Dec. 26 last year, he said.

The system contains data on up to 20 million driving licenses.

"This new facility will also prevent people from having more than one driving license as their request in one regional office would be recognized by other offices," he said.

"The system also serves as a national identification database that could be used by police when investigating crimes and accidents," he said.

A similar database has been used to record details about hundreds of millions of people since 1992.

The integrated data system will enable criminal investigations to be completed faster, he said.

"We informed everyone who applied for driving licenses recently about the new system," Gatot said.

He said the cost of renewing a license had not changed since the introduction of the new system, with applications still costing Rp 75,000 (US$8.2) and insurance costing Rp 15,000.

Health checks are Rp 10,000 and driving tests cost Rp 5,000 (for obtaining license type C) and Rp 10,000 (for license type A), he added. (dia)