This is the Development of the Number of Indonesian Driver's Licenses Over the Last 5 Years

News reports have surfaced regarding a request for lifelong validity of Driver's Licenses (SIM).

According to *CNN Indonesia*, this stems from a lawsuit filed by Arifin Purwanto, a lawyer, who challenged the regulation requiring SIM renewal every 5 years in the Constitutional Court in May 2023.

The challenged article is Article 58 of Law Number 22 of 2009 concerning Road Traffic and Transportation.

"Each SIM renewal, for example, 5 years ago I got a SIM, after 5 years it expires and I renew it. The serial number is different, Your Honor. There is no legal certainty here, and if it's late, everything has to start from scratch and has to be processed. This is certainly the opposite of an ID card. So, if it's an ID card, it's printed directly," said Arifin during the hearing presided over by Constitutional Court Justice M. Guntur Hamzah, quoting the official MK website, as cited on Friday (12/5/2023).

The Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) also responded to the issue. Citing *Katadata*, Kemenkeu estimates a potential loss of Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) from implementing lifelong SIM validity could reach Rp650 billion per year.

PNBP from SIM renewals accounts for 60% of total SIM revenue, with only 40% coming from new SIM issuances.

“If that were implemented, then the income from SIM renewals could decrease by 60%. Based on 2022 data, in one year, the total could reach Rp1.2 trillion, so around Rp650 billion could be lost,” said Wawan Sunarjo, Director of PNBP at the Directorate General of Budget (DJA) Kemenkeu, during a media briefing in Jatiluhur, West Java, on Wednesday (14/7/2023).

He explained that the impact of losing PNBP from SIM renewals wouldn't significantly affect the Ministry of Finance. However, the police would feel the impact because it's part of the National Police's operational budget.

(See also: Police Revenue from SIM Issuance Reaches Rp 1 Trillion)

Aside from the buzz surrounding this issue, how many SIMs have been issued over the past five years?

Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS, Statistics Indonesia) processed data from the Indonesian National Police, showing statistics on various types of SIMs from 2017-2021.

The collected SIMs consist of four types: SIM A, SIM BI, SIM BII, and SIM C. BPS stated that the recorded number of SIMs represents the number of SIMs issued in the respective year, whether new SIMs, renewals, or replacements due to loss or damage.

Of these four types, SIM C had the highest quantity, reaching 8.04 million in 2017.

The number of SIM C actually continued to skyrocket. It even reached its highest number in the last five years in 2019, at 9.3 million SIMs.

However, SIM C issuance dropped drastically in 2020, reaching only 7.84 million SIMs. At that time, the Covid-19 pandemic was raging, and public mobility was restricted.

In 2021, the number also decreased to 7.5 million SIMs. BPS stated that this figure is equivalent to 64.36% of the total issuance of all SIMs.

"This illustrates that motorcycle users in Indonesia are the most dominant compared to other types of vehicles," wrote BPS in its *2021 Land Transportation Statistics* report.

The second most numerous type is SIM A, with 3.37 million SIMs issued in 2017.

Like SIM C, SIM A also reached its highest issuance in 2019 in the last 5 years, reaching 4.13 million SIMs.

However, in 2020, the number decreased to 3.79 million SIMs. The good news is that in 2021, it increased again to 4.04 million SIMs. BPS stated that the number of SIM A is equivalent to 34.69% of the total number of all SIMs.

Meanwhile, the smallest number is for SIM BI and SIM BII. SIM BI reached 118,690 in 2017. After that, the number decreased for two consecutive years.

In 2021, the number of SIM BI was recorded at 95,519.

Meanwhile, SIM BII reached 35,729 in 2017. The number plummeted in 2018 to 18,054 SIMs. In 2021, SIM BII was recorded at only 14,661.

Overall, the number of SIMs in 2021 was recorded at 11.65 million.

Here's a breakdown of the number of SIMs in Indonesia from 2017-2021:

* SIM A
* 2017: 3,372,561 SIMs
* 2018: 3,974,924 SIMs
* 2019: 4,139,101 SIMs
* 2020: 3,798,943 SIMs
* 2021: 4,043,166 SIMs

* SIM BI
* 2017: 118,692 SIMs
* 2018: 103,625 SIMs
* 2019: 91,328 SIMs
* 2020: 91,476 SIMs
* 2021: 95,519 SIMs

* SIM BII
* 2017: 35,729 SIMs
* 2018: 18,054 SIMs
* 2019: 14,350 SIMs
* 2020: 13,754 SIMs
* 2021: 14,661 SIMs

* SIM C
* 2017: 8,042,225 SIMs
* 2018: 8,855,521 SIMs
* 2019: 9,304,885 SIMs
* 2020: 7,844,853 SIMs
* 2021: 7,501,763 SIMs

* TOTAL
* 2017: 11,569,207 SIMs
* 2018: 12,952,124 SIMs
* 2019: 13,549,664 SIMs
* 2020: 11,749,026 SIMs
* 2021: 11,655,109 SIMs

(See also: These Police Services are the Most Time-Consuming According to Populi Survey)