Indonesia’s Surabaya cracks down on absentee fathers for dodging child support

For some women, they can get help from an initiative unique in the country – the East Java city of Surabaya bans men from accessing public services if they fail to pay court-ordered child support payments.

First introduced in 2023, the initiative has been used to block administrative access to over 8,000 men since then, according to Irvan Wahyudrajad, head of the Population and Civil Registration Agency in Surabaya.

“There are many men who fail to fulfil child support and alimony obligations despite court rulings. Their ex-wives and children ultimately bear the consequences,” Wahyudrajad said on April 7 when giving an update on the scheme.

The Surabaya administration’s policy means that men who do not pay court-ordered child support can be barred from accessing some 30 types of public services. These include civil and population registration, applications for lost identity cards, birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates, and legalisation of essential documents.

In 2024, the Surabaya administration said officials from Australia’s judiciary came to the city to study the scheme. Indonesia’s Supreme Court is currently reviewing regulations to allow this policy to be expanded nationwide.