Indonesia and dual nationality

I would like to add my two pennyworth to the letter written by Elis Suminar Discrimination and immigration laws in The Jakarta Post, July 2, 1999. I am a British expatriate married to an Indonesian lady. We also have a child who has to retain British citizenship. I, too, have expressed my surprise and regret to the relevant departments about the situation my wife, child and myself find ourselves in. The responses were confused and often without foundation. It seems that no one, least of all the expatriate, has any real idea as to the true rules and regulations except as those given as a standard rote answer or the interpretations thereof.

My feeling about this, wrong or right, is because if expatriates were given the opportunity to take dual nationality, it would effectively reduce the "income" potential of many of the officials who deal with our cases, particularly that of my daughter. To date, in order to allow our daughter of 22 months, to register as being born here in Indonesia and to stay has cost a sizable amount of money. The reason? I was told that as an expatriate I "could afford it".

This has caused considerable stress and I believe it falls well short of what the rest of the civilized world would consider to be "human rights". What more profound human right is there than to allow a man and his family to settle where the wife's relatives live, or where the husband's relatives live? It further seems to me that human rights in Indonesia, in this case and many more, are subrogated for the mere acquisition of cash by the relevant departments, who at the same time use their interpretations of the law to excuse their actions. It is effectively government control by fear of separation.

I would have thought that if a European chooses to marry an Indonesian lady out of love and respect for her, that the appropriate authorities would be only too glad to offer the "foreigner" dual nationality. Or are the authorities so proud of themselves they can afford to be reckless where the rights of a family to stay together are concerned? Is Indonesia ready to be part of a global family? I think not based on the relevant department's xenophobic, racist and arrogant responses to date.

MARTIN BOOTHBY

Jakarta