2,000 Chinese seek citizenship

PALU, Central Sulawesi: Some 2,073 out of 2,681 registered Chinese descendants in Central Sulawesi have applied for Indonesian citizenship, Vice Governor H.M. Sulaiman said.

"Their applications are being processed by the immigration office, the district court and other government agencies," Sulaiman was quoted by Antara as saying.

Sulaiman heads a team carrying out a census on the number of Chinese descendants in the province. He said a second survey taken this year found that the size of the Chinese community in the province had declined to 2,073 from the nearly 4,000 estimated in the first survey.

Many of them have since adopted Indonesian nationality but are retaining their Chinese citizenship. These people will be asked to rescind their Chinese nationality because dual nationality is forbidden by Indonesian law.

Sulaiman however acknowledged that the survey might have missed out on some Chinese who purposefully avoided the officials. (emb)