How identity verification systems support Indonesia's digital public infrastructure

Digital identity (ID) systems are important part of digital public infrastructure (DPI).  

That being said, digital ID verification is key to driving the efficiency of public services and advance development, according to Indonesia’s Ministry of Home Affairs' Acting Director of National Population Data Integration at the Directorate General of Dukcapil, Mensuseno.  

Mensuseno says that the ID system is no longer used to prove just who we are, but also as a driver to achieve broader development goals – which are aligned to the World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D). 

ID4D highlights inclusive and trusted ID systems as a key enabler for all people to exercise their rights and access better services and economic opportunities in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. 

In India, the Aadhaar programme has successfully boosted the economy and onboarded more citizens to digital services, he noted. In Indonesia, population data is used to provide targeted subsidies such as cash transfers and education scholarships to those in need in a transparent and accountable manner.

Has Indonesia implemented DPI?   

"For us, a system that is able to digitally verify a person's identity – so that they are not excluded from development programmes – is part of DPI," he added.  

Speaking to GovInsider, Mensuseno shared how the utilisation of Dukcapil data can drive the country's development process.    

To subscribe to the GovInsider bulletin click here.

Trusted identity verification

The most important principle of identity verification, according to Mensuseno, is how we can prove that a person's identity is true and trustworthy.   

Since 2011, the government has been recording electronic ID cards with biometric data to ensure that a person's identity is valid and cannot be faked. A person may be able to change their name or address, but they cannot change their face or fingerprints. 

"The recording of biometric data is a big leap because for the first time, the ID system in Indonesia is transformed into a shared infrastructure that can be utilised by both the public and private sectors," he says. 

Currently, more than 6,600 institutions are using ID cards as an identity verification tool – with an average access of 10 million transactions per day and a total of 15.9 billion times per year.  

Based on the type of data, demographic data is the most accessed information with 8.6 million times per day and biometric data is accessed around 344,000 times per day. 

BPJS Kesehatan, the national health insurance provider that manages 270 million Indonesian health plans, is the state institution that accesses Dukcapil data the most, at two billion times. 

To subscribe to the GovInsider bulletin click here.

Encourage financial inclusion

Mensuseno underlines that the utilisation of Dukcapil data has accelerated financial inclusion.  

Greater access to financial services means creating new businesses that will boost the economy. He cites how the financial inclusion rate in India jumped from 20 per cent to 80 per cent in just a decade because of Aadhaar.

In Indonesia, the government's national bank, BNI, has managed to gain 2.1 million customers in just three months through its new mobile banking app, Wondr. Allo Bank, a private digital bank, has gained 10 million customers in three years by leveraging Dukcapil services.  

"No conventional bank could get that many customers in such a short time," he says.   

Verification of population data creates added value in terms of faster service delivery, improving efficiency and encouraging more people to onboard digital systems. Dukcapil estimates the economic savings generated from digital identity verification to reach US$1.64 billion (S$2.21 billion).    

Leveraging IKD as the national Digital ID   

In 2023, Dukcapil introduced the Digital Population Identity (IKD) application as a national digital ID. IKD is designed as a tool for people to verify their identity online when accessing public services.  

According to Mensuseno, IKD was initially intended to replace physical ID cards with digital ones and mitigate risks where demand for electronic ID cards increases, while the availability of physical ID card blanks is limited.   

After the issuance of Presidential Regulation No. 82 of 2023 on the Acceleration of Digital Transformation and the Integration of National Digital Services, the Directorate General of Dukcapil encourages IKD as a single sign-on for various government services and is currently integrated into INA Pas.   

"The spirit is that IKD becomes like a Google Account that can be used to access various applications without having to go back and forth to fill in data."  

IKD is also an implementation of Dukcapil data interoperability. Currently, IKD has been integrated with the Ministry of Health as a single sign-on for the SATUSEHAT Mobile platform. Users who already have IKD can directly access health services contained in the SATUSEHAT ecosystem without re-logging.  

Mensuseno says, IKD is also being used to access mobile banking applications of government-owned banks such as Bank BNI and Bank DKI. In the future, more government banks will join, including Bank Jawa Barat-Banten and Bank Jawa Timur. 

"More government banks joining the IKD ecosystem will facilitate government-to-people transactions and vice versa and will gradually advance the development of DPI in Indonesia," he added. 

The Digital ID project in Indonesia has just received support from the World Bank in the form of funding of US$250 million over four years. The funding covers ICT infrastructure and technology implementation for verification and e-KYC processes and identity data collection and creation projects for underserved citizens. 

This article was originally published in Bahasa Indonesia