Identity at a Price
Corruption and discrimination begins in the cradle, as hundreds of thousands of Indonesian families struggle each year to have their babies properly registered. Corruption and discrimination begins in the cradle, as hundreds of thousands of Indonesian families struggle each year to have their babies properly registered.
February 4, 2003
Lamria, aged 30, has never had her family name recognized in an official document. Lamria's clan name, Siagian, ties her to the Batak ethnic group in Sumatra. However, since she was born in Jakarta, Lamria's family name was excluded from her birth certificate. Jakarta's birth registration regulations prohibit family or clan names from being recorded on birth certificates.
When Lamria attended junior high school, her mother attempted to have he
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