Discriminatory citizenship law abolished

Discriminatory citizenship law abolished

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto has abolished an
administrative rule widely viewed by many as discriminating
against Indonesians of Chinese descent.

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, according to
Bakom-PKB, the government-sponsored agency for promoting social
integration between minority ethnic groups and indigenous people.

With Presidential Decree no. 56/1996, Indonesian citizenship
becomes automatic. They will no longer be required to produce 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.

The requirement, based on a 1968 regulation, has been regarded
as discriminatory by people of Chinese descent, particularly
because obtaining the SBKRI is costly and complicated.

Under the new decree, children under 18 years of age as well
as women who marry Indonesian nationals will automatically gain
Indonesian citizenship.

The treatment also applies to children -- including those born
out of wedlock -- of women who obtain Indonesian citizenship
through a naturalization process.

The decree underlines the need to accord every citizen of
Indonesia equal rights and obligations.

"The decree at last gives a firm legal foundation to the
government's commitment to treat its citizens equally regardless
of their backgrounds," Bakom-PKB chairman Juwono Sudarsono told a
news conference yesterday.

The 1968 SBKRI regulation was actually invalidated by a
Minister of Justice decree in 1992, but the practice of requiring
the SBKRI document has continued to this day, said Indradi
Kusumah, the agency's general secretary.

By law, citizenship is given to a person by a court after
making a pledge of allegiance. With the new regulation, the names
of the wives and children will be stated in the court document.

The ruling follows another presidential decree issued in
August last year which simplified the naturalization process and
made it free of charge to the hundreds of thousands of Chinese
descents who have been stateless since 1969, when Indonesia cut
diplomatic ties with China. The two countries reinstated ties in
1990.

At the last count, more than 200,000 stateless Chinese, out of
an estimated 208,000, have taken advantage of the offer.

The government says the offer will stand until all stateless
Chinese have exercised their option.

Previously, the process of obtaining citizenship was
complicated and could cost up to Rp 1 million.

Juwono, who is also deputy governor of the National Resilience
Institute, said anyone who feels that he or she has been unfairly
discriminated against by the administration in spite of the
presidential decree should lodge a complaint with the court.

This includes those officials who are charging more than the
official fees, Juwono said. "Historically there has been an
interest in a bureaucracy that encourages officials to take
advantage of others by making things more complicated to get
money in return."

"We all need to change our perception that not all slanted
eyed people with light skin are wealthy," Juwono said, referring
to the ethnic Chinese, a small but economically powerful group in
Indonesia.

Indradi said many people of Chinese descent still face
discriminatory treatment by the administration to this day.

"Many officials have become too accustomed to the old ways
that they automatically ask for it (the SBKRI) the minute they
see applicants who look Chinese," Indradi said.

Bakom-PKB was established in 1977 to help foster nationalism
among the Chinese, Indians, Arabs and other non-indigenous groups
in the country. (14)