Govt appears to be reluctant to end discriminatory policies

Govt appears to be reluctant to end discriminatory policies

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite increasing calls for an end to racial discrimination, the
government appears reluctant to eradicate institutionalized
discrimination against Chinese-Indonesians.

This reluctance was amply demonstrated by a letter dated Sept.
6, 2002, from Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza
Mahendra to State Secretary Bambang Kesowo, a copy of which was
seen by The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Responding to President Megawati Soekarnoputri's instruction
to revoke a ministerial decree requiring Chinese-Indonesians to
acquire a Republic of Indonesia Citizenship Certificate (SBKRI),
Yusril said that the issuing of a ministerial decree revoking the
SBKRI requirement would run contrary to Law No. 62/1958 on
citizenship and Presidential Decree No 52/1977 on demographic
affairs.

Presidential Decree No. 56/1996, however, stipulated that all
the laws and regulations on the SBKRI requirement were no longer
effective. Nevertheless, according to Yusril, the decree applied
only to wives and children whose husbands, fathers, or mothers
possessed an SBKRI.

"To avoid legal uncertainty, the revocation of the SBKRI
requirement must await the House's deliberation of the new
citizenship bill," read the letter.

The House has initiated and is currently deliberating a bill
on citizenship.

The SBKRI is required by various institutions, such as the
immigration office and state universities for Chinese-Indonesian
applicants.

Chinese-Indonesians, who number about six million, have
consistently complained about the SBKRI requirement and called on
the government to take action to abolish it.

Besides the SBKRI requirement, there are a number of other
discriminatory requirements that need to be abolished.

Chinese-Indonesians, however, have recovered some of their
civil rights, a development highlighted by the designation of the
Lunar New Year (Imlek), as a national holiday by the government.

Director for State Administration at the Ministry of Justice
and Human Rights Ramly Hutabarat said the revocation of the SBKRI
rules depended on the House.

"We have not yet included an article on the revocation of the
SBKRI requirement in the bill," he said.

Deputy Cabinet Secretary Erman Radjagukguk said that Yusril
had sent an official letter to his office regarding the latter's
stance.

"He said in his letter that for security reasons and due to
citizenship technicalities, it would be difficult to revoke the
discriminatory laws at the moment," Erman told the Post.

"His response is a setback to our efforts. We have been
involved in repeated debates with him over his letter," the
official added.

Erman said that according to Yusril, it would be impossible to
revoke the SBKRI ruling as there would be too many citizenship
documents that would need to be revised in such an eventuality.