Citizenship bill maintains institutionalized racism<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan and Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Demands for the elimination of institutionalized discrimination
\nagainst Chinese-Indonesians have fallen on deaf ears as both the
\ngovernment and House have moved to reinforce existing
\ndiscriminatory laws.<\/p>\n
In the citizenship bill that is about to be deliberated in the
\nHouse, the government makes no attempt to reverse regulations
\nrequiring Chinese-Indonesians to obtain the controversial
\nRepublic of Indonesia Citizenship Certificate (SBKRI), long seen
\nas a blatant piece of discrimination against Indonesians of
\nethnic Chinese origin.<\/p>\n
Article 39 of the bill, which was submitted to the House in
\n2000, stipulates that every one is required to prove their
\nIndonesian citizenship, and those who have citizenship may apply
\nto the justice minister or official to obtain it.<\/p>\n
Chinese-Indonesians, who account for over three percent of the
\ncountry's population of 215 million, are still required to have
\nan SBKRI as stipulated in the Citizenship Law No. 62\/1958. Many
\nhad hoped that the new citizenship bill would scrap this
\nrequirement.<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who declared the Lunar New
\nYear, or Imlek, a national holiday, is scheduled to attend the
\nnational celebration for the Chinese New Year on Thursday.<\/p>\n
It is still unclear, however, if she will revoke some of the
\nover 60 laws that discriminate against Indonesians of Chinese
\nethnicity.<\/p>\n
Megawati had reportedly asked Minister of Justice and Human
\nRights Yusril Ihza Mahendra to revoke the SBKRI ruling, but the
\nlater declined saying that this would go against the 1958
\ncitizenship law.<\/p>\n
Yusril was referring to the closing article IV of the 1958
\ncitizenship law and Presidential Decree No 52\/1977 on demographic
\naffairs.<\/p>\n
Chinese-Indonesians are the most affected by the SBKRI
\nrequirement, and frequently complain that institutions like the
\nimmigration office and state universities still require them to
\npresent an SBKRI if they want to get a passport or enroll.<\/p>\n
The government has actually scrapped all laws and regulations
\non the SBKRI requirement through Presidential Decree No. 56\/1996
\non the SBKRI, but many institutions have been reluctant to
\nimplement it.<\/p>\n
The bill also regulates the citizenship of children born out
\nof both legitimate and illicit relationships.<\/p>\n
Article 2 (e) stipulates that a child born in Indonesia from a
\nlawful marriage between an Indonesian mother and stateless father
\nwill be recognized as an Indonesian citizen.<\/p>\n
A child born here from a lawful marriage between an Indonesian
\nmother and foreign father will also be declared Indonesian.<\/p>\n
Compared to the existing laws, the bill provides greater
\nprotection for Indonesian women who get married to foreign
\ncitizens.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a member of the National Commission on Human
\nRights, Saafroedin Bahar, said on Wednesday that with enough
\ncommitment, legislators should have no problem deliberating the
\ncitizenship bill.<\/p>\n
\"When we submitted the bill to the House, there was already a
\nbroad understanding among legislators to end discrimination,\"
\nsaid Saafroedin, explaining that the government had asked the
\ncommission along with several non-government organizations to
\nhelp draft the bill.<\/p>\n
But he doubted that legislators would start debating the bill
\nanytime soon. The House has yet to start or finalize the
\ndeliberation on a a number of bills that the government submitted
\nlast year or even earlier.<\/p>\n
University of Indonesia constitutional law expert Jimly
\nAsshiddiqie agreed that the government had little choice but to
\nwait for the legislators to start working.<\/p>\n
He advised against bypassing the present citizenship law with
\nan ad-hoc government regulation, fearing that this would create
\ndamaging loopholes in the regulation without a law to back it up.<\/p>\n
But he suggested that the government launch an anti-
\ndiscrimination campaign to support the implementation of the new
\ncitizenship law.<\/p>",
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