Category: Vehicle registration plates of Indonesia

Vehicle registration plates of Indonesia

Vehicle registration plates of Indonesia

Vehicle registration plates of Indonesia

Indonesian registration plate for Jakarta.

All motorized vehicles including motorcycles in Indonesia are required to have registration plates. The plates need to be displayed in front and at the back of the vehicles.

Registration plate design

Design convention

Except for some special cases (see below), every vehicle license plate in Indonesia follows the following format: LL NNNN LL where “L” are letters of the Latin alphabet, and “N” and numbers from “0” to “9” (note that the first number is never a “0”). The first single or double letters denote the area of registration. This is followed by numbers, which can range from one to four digits. This is then followed by one or two letters although they may be optional. For example: D 1028 EB is a vehicle registered in Bandung region, because it begins with letter D. A smaller numbers being added to the bottom of the plate, indicating the month and year where the plate is expired, so the owner must repay the tax to get the new one (for example, “09-10” means “September, 2010”.

A new format was recently introduced which have three ending letters, due to increase of motorized vehicle numbers. At first, this format is used for motorcycles and since July 2008 until present, for cars in Jakarta and its surrounding areas only.

The first letter determines which area the car is registered in:

  • Central Jakarta: L NNNN PLL (P for Pusat, Central)
  • North Jakarta: L NNNN ULL (U for Utara, North)
  • South Jakarta: L NNNN SLL (S for Selatan, South)
  • West Jakarta: L NNNN BLL (B for Barat, West)
  • East Jakarta: L NNNN TLL (T for Timur, East)
  • Depok: L NNNN ELL
  • Tangerang: L NNNN NLL
  • Bekasi: L NNNN KLL
  • ERA: L NNNN HLL
  • Government vehicle: L NNNN RFL (higher ranked)

The middle letter determines which category the car belongs in:

  • Sedan and Coupe: B 1111 LAL
  • MPV and Hatchback: L NNNN LFL
  • SUV and Jeep: L NNNN LJL
  • Truck: L NNNN LDL
  • Taxicab: L NNNN LTL
  • Government vehicle: L NNNN LUL (lower ranked)

The last letter is given randomly.

Example:

  • B 1234 HJA
    H denotes ERA, J denotes SUV/jeep category
  • B 1234 TJB
    T denotes East Jakarta area, J denotes SUV/jeep category
  • B 1234 UFP
    U denotes North Jakarta area, F denotes MPV/hatchback category

[edit]Registration area codes

The lettering convention to denote area of registration is a legacy of the Dutch colonial era and do not reflect the current regional divisions of the country into provinces. Instead, they follow the old system of Dutch Karesidenan or residencies.

The list of area codes are:

DKI Jakarta, Banten, Jawa Barat

A = Banten: Kabupaten/Kota Serang, Kabupaten Pandeglang, Kota Cilegon, Kabupaten Lebak, sebagian Kabupaten Tangerang

B = DKI Jakarta, Kabupaten/Kota Tangerang, Kabupaten/Kota Bekasi(B-K**), Kota Depok

D = Kabupaten/Kota Bandung, Kota Cimahi, Kabupaten Bandung Barat

E = eks Karesidenan Cirebon: Kabupaten/Kota Cirebon, Kabupaten Indramayu, Kabupaten Majalengka, Kabupaten Kuningan (E – YA/YB/YC/YD)

F = eks Karesidenan Bogor: Kabupaten/Kota Bogor, Kabupaten Cianjur, Kabupaten/Kota Sukabumi

T = Kabupaten Purwakarta, Kabupaten Karawang, sebagian Kabupaten Bekasi, Kabupaten Subang

Z = Kabupaten Garut, Kabupaten/Kota Tasikmalaya, Kabupaten Sumedang, Kabupaten Ciamis, Kota Banjar 

Jawa Tengah dan DI Yogyakarta

G = eks Karesidenan Pekalongan: Kabupaten (G – B)/Kota Pekalongan (G – A), Kabupaten (G – F)/Kota Tegal (G – E), Kabupaten Brebes, Kabupaten Batang (G – C), Kabupaten Pemalang (G – D)

H = eks Karesidenan Semarang: Kabupaten/Kota Semarang, Kota Salatiga, Kabupaten Kendal (H – D), Kabupaten Demak

K = eks Karesidenan Pati: Kabupaten Pati (K – A), Kabupaten Kudus (K – B), Kabupaten Jepara (K – C), Kabupaten Rembang (K – D), Kabupaten Blora, Kabupaten Grobogan

R = eks Karesidenan Banyumas: Kabupaten Banyumas (R – A/H/S), Kabupaten Cilacap (R – B/K/T), Kabupaten Purbalingga (R – C), Kabupaten Banjarnegara

AA = eks Karesidenan Kedu: Kabupaten/Kota Magelang, Kabupaten Purworejo, Kabupaten Kebumen, Kabupaten Temanggung, Kabupaten Wonosobo

AB = DI Yogyakarta: Kota Yogyakarta, Kabupaten Bantul, Kabupaten Gunung Kidul, Kabupaten Sleman, Kabupaten Kulon Progo

AD = eks Karesidenan Surakarta: Kota Surakarta (AD), Kabupaten Sukoharjo (AD – B), Kabupaten Boyolali (AD – D), Kabupaten Sragen (AD – E), Kabupaten Karanganyar (AD – F), Kabupaten Wonogiri (AD – G), Kabupaten Klaten (AD – C)
Jawa Timur

L = Kota Surabaya

M = eks Karesidenan Madura: Kabupaten Pamekasan, Kabupaten Sumenep, Kabupaten Sampang, Kabupaten Bangkalan

N = eks Karesidenan Malang: Kabupaten/Kota Malang, Kabupaten/Kota Probolinggo, Kabupaten/Kota Pasuruan, Kabupaten Lumajang, Kota Batu

P = eks Karesidenan Besuki: Kabupaten Bondowoso, Kabupaten Situbondo, Kabupaten Jember, Kabupaten Banyuwangi

S = eks Karesidenan Bojonegoro: Kabupaten Bojonegoro, Kabupaten/Kota Mojokerto, Kabupaten Tuban, Kabupaten Lamongan, Kabupaten Jombang

W = Kabupaten Sidoarjo, Kabupaten Gresik

AE = eks Karesidenan Madiun: Kabupaten/Kota Madiun, Kabupaten Ngawi, Kabupaten Magetan, Kabupaten Ponorogo, Kabupaten Pacitan

AG = eks Karesidenan Kediri: Kabupaten/Kota Kediri, Kabupaten/Kota Blitar, Kabupaten Tulungagung, Kabupaten Nganjuk, Kabupaten Trenggalek

SUMATERA

BL = Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam

BB = Sumatera Utara Bagian Barat (Tapanuli)

BK = Sumatera Utara

BA = Sumatera Barat

BM = Riau

BP = Kepulauan Riau

BG = Sumatera Selatan

BN = Kepulauan Bangka Belitung

BE = Lampung

BD = Bengkulu

BH = Jambi

Bali dan Nusa Tenggara

DK = Bali

DR = NTB I (Pulau Lombok: Kota Mataram, Kabupaten Lombok Barat, Kabupaten Lombok Timur, Kabupaten Lombok Tengah)

EA = NTB II (Pulau Sumbawa: Kabupaten Sumbawa Barat, Kabupaten Sumbawa, Kabupaten Dompu, Kabupaten/Kota Bima)

DH = NTT I (Pulau Timor: Kabupaten/Kota Kupang, Kabupaten TTU, TTS, Kabupaten Rote Ndao)

EB = NTT II (Pulau Flores dan kepulauan: Kabupaten Manggarai Barat, Kabupaten Manggarai, Kabupaten Ngada, Kabupaten Ende, Kabupaten Sikka, Kabupaten Flores Timur, Kabupaten Lembata, Kabupaten Alor)

ED = NTT III (Pulau Sumba: Kabupaten Sumba Barat, Kabupaten Sumba Timur)
KALIMANTAN

KB = Kalimantan Barat

DA = Kalimantan Selatan

KH = Kalimantan Tengah

KT = Kalimantan Timur

SULAWESI

DB = Sulawesi Utara Daratan (Kota Manado, Kota Tomohon, Kota Bitung, Kabupaten Bolaang Mongondow, Kabupaten Minahasa, Kabupaten Minahasa Utara, Kabupaten Minahasa Selatan)

DL = Sulawesi Utara Kepulauan (Kabupaten Kepulauan Sangihe, Kabupaten Kepulauan Talaud)

DM = Gorontalo

DN = Sulawesi Tengah

DT = Sulawesi Tenggara

DD = Sulawesi Selatan

DC = Sulawesi Barat

MALUKU DAN PAPUA

DE = Maluku

DG = Maluku Utara

DS = Papua dan Papua Barat

Vehicle classes

There are several classes of license plates, each can be distinguished by their color:

  • White on black: The most common type of license plate, this is for private vehicles.
  • Red on white: Vehicles that have not been registered yet, or for new cars that have no owners yet.
  • Black on yellow: Public transportation vehicles, such as buses, taxis and trucks.
  • White on red: Government vehicles.
  • Black on Red: Vehicles belonging to foreign countries. Commonly used by foreign embassies or vehicles belonging to International organizations. These adopt a different convention (see below).
  • Black on White: Vehicles belonging to foreign countries. Commonly used by foreign embassies or vehicles belonging to International organizations. These adopt a different convention (see below).
  • Military and police vehicles have their own colors and alphanumeric conventions that is very different from civilians, including their insignia and/or the rank of the officer owning the vehicle, especially for high-ranking officers one. Army plate is yellow on green backround, added by a yellow star on the top. Navy plate is yellow on light blue, added by a yellow anchor. Air Force plate is yellow on dark blue, added by a red and white air force roundel. Police plate is yellow on black. Personnels in Armed Forces Headquarters using yellow numbers on red backround plates. Slightly similar, Ministry of Defense vehicles also using yellow on red plates, only replacing Armed Forces’ insignia with the Ministry’s insignia. This is also being practiced on every military vehicles, even on motorcycles, jeeps, trucks, tanks, etc.
  • Fire Departments and Regional Police are administered under their local governments, so they are using government-style license plates.
  • There are also other special conventions, such as for vehicles used by the President, Vice President or other senior government officials.

Special plate designs

Government vehicles

Government vehicles have special license plates. If anytime the government officials go to outside the capital or going out from Indonesia, the plates will be placed on the vehicles which is ridden by the government officials.

Senior government officials

Vehicle license plates belonging to senior government officials like the President or Vice President always begin with RI (which stands for “Republik Indonesia”) and are followed by a number. For example, the president’s vehicle license plate is “RI-1”, and the vice president’s is “RI-2”. Other senior officials such as government ministers, Chairman of The House of Representatives, Commander of The National Armed Forces and Chief of National Police also share the same convention and get the numbers after the President and Vice President. These plates are used for everyday activities, so they are white on black design.

In a special case, there are some very special numbers which are “INDONESIA 1” and “INDONESIA 2” for the President and Vice President, respectively. These numbers are used for a ceremonial purposes, such as presidential/vice presidential inaugurations, national day ceremonies and armed forces day. On the inauguration day, at the time the new president/vice president take the oath, the plates are moved from the former presidential/vice presidential cars to the new car. These numbers also being used for all ceremonial presidential/vice presidential cars, no matters what the type of the vehicles used, and being white on red design.

Vehicles belonging to foreign countries or international organization

License plates for vehicles belonging to foreign countries or international organizations adopt a different convention. They contain black letters on a white background.

The plates have the letter CD followed by two or three digits denoting the country or organization, followed by up to three digits of the serial number. For example, a car with number CD 12 001 is owned by the United States.

The list of countries and organizations follows:

Consulates also use the same format, but instead of using the letters CD, they use CC.

[edit]Vanity names

A few vehicle owners pay an extra or persuade an official to get a certain plate as their pleasure. Because the convention is not flexible to include a full word, people try creative uses of numbers and letters. For example, Idris Sardi, a violin player, uses (B 10 LA) for his vehicle. It is a play on word BIOLA which means “violin” in Indonesian. Leoni, a famous actress and singer, uses L 30 NI for her car. Even the former President Megawati Soekarnoputri chooses “M 3 GA” for her personal vehicle, as the plate resembles her broadly-known nickname. Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, President Yudhoyono’s younger son, has “B 24 EB”, which “EB” is being his name initial. With the new format of three suffix alphabets, many vanity or personal license plates are more possible to be created. For example, a Toyota Fortuner owner may choose the plate B NN42 NER which sounds B NNfour-two-NER. Even an internet geek can choose “B 900 GLE” as his personal plate.

order �jtc Z �5 (170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; “>DMNorth SulawesiDNCentral SulawesiDRLombokDSPapuaDTSoutheast SulawesiECirebonEASumbawaEBFloresEDSumbaFBogorGPekalonganHSemarangKPatiKBWest KalimantanKHCentral KalimantanKTEast KalimantanLSurabayaMMaduraNMalangPBesukiRBanyumasSBojonegoroTPurwakartaWSidoarjoZTasikmalaya

[edit]Vehicle classes

There are several classes of license plates, each can be distinguished by their color:

  • White on black: The most common type of license plate, this is for private vehicles.
  • Red on white: Vehicles that have not been registered yet, or for new cars that have no owners yet.
  • Black on yellow: Public transportation vehicles, such as buses, taxis and trucks.
  • White on red: Government vehicles.