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)