THREE years ago, 88,000 authentic forgeries of ID cards were confiscated in Jakarta. During the same time span, data on 25 million cellphone numbers leaked, resulting in users having their phones flooded with junk SMS. Bank accounts in other peoples names were opened.

These are some of the downside of not having a singular numbering system in Indonesia. The use of fake IDs by terrorists, tax evaders, and smugglers are part of this problem. Gayus