House to propose new bill on citizenship

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After years of delay, the House of Representatives legislation committee will propose a new bill on citizenship, which aims to eliminate discriminatory articles under the current problematic law.

Legislation committee chairman Muhammad A.S. Hikam said a new law was important because the existing Law No. 62/1958 was no longer appropriate at a time when democracy and equality should reign.

"There are still discriminatory items in the existing law, especially those on foreigners wishing to become Indonesian citizens as well as on former political prisoners," he said on Saturday.

Hikam, also a member of House Commission I on defense and foreign affairs, further said a law on citizenship must not be restricted only to matters of citizenship, but also embody the basic civil rights that come with citizenship.

"It's more fundamental than simply determining the status of someone or the implications of marrying foreigners. If we're going to talk only about status, we have a law on civil records. It needs to be seen as a law to protect citizens' basic rights," he said.

Legislation committee member, Nursjahbani Katjasungkana, said she would push for the inclusion of dual citizenship in the new law as it would indeed bring substantial benefit for the country in terms of better quality human resources as overseas-educated children of mixed parents could come here without the legal barrier of their citizenship.

"Most modern countries are applying it as it makes it easier for mixed parents and their offspring to use facilities in the two countries in question.

This is also to cut all the red tape and erase problems that mixed parents face because of the uncertain status of their children," she said.

Nursjahbani said children of an Indonesian woman married to an expatriate should be entitled to the right to vote and also be exempted from the requirement to possess stay or work permits.

"Moreover, an expatriate wife of an Indonesian man should also be allowed to work," she added.

She said the purpose would be to erase as much as possible all discriminatory items in the existing law -- especially those regarding women and children.

However, Nursjahbani disagreed with her fellow legislator Hikam, saying the articles concerning basic civil rights were already accommodated in the Constitution itself.

"This is a matter of the status of a citizen, about obtaining or losing it. The Constitution already stipulates that basic civil rights are guaranteed," she said.

She also said challenges to a more democratic and flexible law on citizenship would likely come from those with little understanding of nationalism.

A bill to replace the existing law was actually drafted by legislators during the previous term, but was never deliberated.

The legislation committee is scheduled to bring the draft as a House-sponsored bill to a plenary session on Tuesday.

If the House agrees to adopt the bill, the legislation committee will set up a working committee and produce a new draft to be deliberated later with the government.