Discrimination continues despite new ruling

By Gedsiri Suhartono

JAKARTA (JP): One month ago Indonesians of Chinese descent sighed in relief when a ruling was issued in an attempt to end administrative discrimination against them.

However, for those who need the services of some local government offices, for example to get an identification card, the discrimination remains. Apparently, it will be some time before the ruling is implemented at lower administrative levels.

A resident of the Bintaro Jaya housing complex in South Jakarta said she still prefers to pay other people to handle her legal affairs. "It's much easier, and I don't have to encounter the many difficulties," she said.

Another Indonesian of Chinese descent, who obtained her nationality from her parents, said that she is not surprised to find persisting difficulties despite the recently-issued law.

"It is so common for people of Chinese descent, especially in Indonesia, to encounter all sorts of difficulties," she said. "It will take a long period of transition before the ruling has any impact. Here, sometimes, laws remain mere words."

A presidential decree dated July 9 waived the requirement for the wife and children of naturalized citizens to obtain a court document stating their Indonesian nationality.

Through Presidential Decree no. 56/1996, Indonesian citizenship becomes automatic. The affected people will no longer be required to obtain the court document, known by its Indonesian abbreviation as SBKRI, for administrative matters such as school enrollment and the application for identity cards and passports.

In contrast with people of other foreign origins such as Arabs or Indian, many ethnically Chinese people may still have to endure discrimination until the ruling is implemented.

Despite the presidential decree, the ethnic Chinese continue to be nagged by local administrative officials demanding they produce court documents proving Indonesian nationality.

Subdistrict offices, whose services are needed for a great number of administrative matters, still insist that Chinese applicants show their SBKRI.

"We are just doing our job and we need to make sure that everything is correct," Ating Wiyono, deputy of the Bendungan Hilir subdistrict in Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post.

Subdistrict offices are agencies which deal directly with residents' legal matters, including the issuing of "family cards" or the registration of family members residing at one address, identification cards, and the reporting of births and deaths.

Ating said he heard about the presidential decree, but that he still needed to be vigilant out of fear that people would abuse his office's services to obtain multiple identification cards.

"We need the data (on SKBRI) for our records. It is also a means for us to monitor their assimilation process with local residents," Ating said. He did not elaborate.

An official at a subdistrict in Tangerang insisted that she had not heard about the new decree and will continue to ask for evidence of citizenship from ethnically Chinese people who request her office's services.

"We have not received any instruction that SBKRI is no longer needed. Unless I hear otherwise, I will continue to ask for it," she said.

Djohan Djauhari, chairman of the Indonesian Bar Association, criticized the persistence of some local officials to demand SKBRI from people of Chinese descent even when they already have identification cards.

"The family cards or the IDs, which both state their owners' nationality, should be sufficient for most administrative matters," he said.

"Why would they doubt the truth of documents they themselves issued?" Djohan said of the subdistrict officials' insistence on the production of SKBRI.

He then suggested that officials apply a more stringent procedure in application of IDs so that the cards become more credible and not easily abused.

Another noted lawyer, Mohammad Assegaf, lamented the corrupt officials who extort money from the public in exchange for services.

Assegaf also lamented the habit of many people who avoid the complicated administrative procedures by, among other things, offering bribes. "It's very typical for many people to shortcut the difficulties by using money to get the wheels going," he said.

Djohan also criticized the poor law enforcement in Indonesia and lack of sanctions against officials found to be guilty of corruption or taking bribes.

"I doubted that those local officials are ever reprimanded for their mistakes, so perhaps it is too far fetched to talk about sanctions," Djohan added.