Illegal dual citizenship
I am responding Soetami Koestomo's letter On dual citizenship in The Jakarta Post on Dec. 4. Like you, I feel offended that a foreigner is able to illegally get an Indonesian passport. However, the foreigner in question likely bought it because, as you pointed out rightly, everything is possible in Indonesia.
Anyway, the laws are far too strict and complicated for a foreigner to get Warga Negara Indonesia (WNI) or Indonesian citizen status legally. However, once you are a WNI you can forget about your immigration requirements, very often a real headache for expats, who in this matter are like pieces of cake surrounded by hungry civil servants.
What embarrasses me the most is that my Indonesian wife when becoming legally a Belgian citizen in May 2003 lost her Indonesian citizenship. This is unfair when certain (rich) foreigners are allowed by corrupt officials to arrange all their documents and retain illegally what was not allowed legally for my wife.
It is time the government took effective measures to improve the immigration service and for the Minister of Justice and Human Rights to improve the existing immigration laws. These laws in Indonesia are abusive, discriminatory, over-complicated and magnets for harassment. This is why immigration offices are full of travel agents -- like other offices in other departments.
For foreigners such as me, married to an Indonesian woman, it is virtually impossible for us to stay in Indonesia once our international contracts end. And the problems are multiplied when we have children, unless we can get Indonesian citizenship. However, this costs a lot of money. Most expats cannot afford and don't dare to get it, because it is "dangerous" if you get caught.
So, few foreigners buy citizenship, unless we are close to retirement or retired and intending to stay in Indonesia forever. Most of these people who do this still get into "trouble" later on. For example, if they want to leave the country or renew their passports -- they end up having to pay another fee to get out of trouble.
YVAN MAGAIN
Saintes, Belgium