Jakarta to register stateless Chinese
Jakarta to register stateless Chinese
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta municipal administration is going to
register all stateless Chinese living in the city starting from
May 6, in order to get accurate data on the group and to settle
the issue of their status once and for all.
"Thus far there has never been an efficient, comprehensive
registration of the group. Each agency in the city administration
has its own records, which conflict with each other. That's why
the registration is being done," Idrus, the deputy governor in
charge of administration affairs, announced yesterday.
Nurhadi Djudi, director of the Office for Developing National
Unity at the Ministry of Home Affairs, who was also at the press
conference, said the registration is in adherence to the
memorandum of understanding signed by Indonesia and the People's
Republic of China in 1992. The memorandum concerned the ethnic
Chinese living in Indonesia without clear citizenship status.
"There are many Chinese here who are registered as stateless
residents. They are not recorded as Indonesians because they
haven't been naturalized yet. Moreover, they have no passport to
prove that they hold Chinese citizenship," Nurhadi said.
According to the records at the Jakarta Population Affairs
Office, around 27,590 stateless people of Chinese descent live in
the capital.
"I believe the actual number is much higher than the figure we
have recorded," Idrus said.
Idrus said the stateless Chinese to be registered are those
who have lived here for one generation but have not yet been
naturalized, as well as illegal immigrants.
Chinese residents classified as "ex-PP 10/1959" also will be
asked to register. The PP 10/1959 is governmental regulation No.
10 of 1959 concerning the obligation of all ethnic Chinese in
Indonesia to choose either Chinese or Indonesian citizenship.
The term "ex-PP 10/1959" was coined to refer to those who
opted for Chinese citizenship but remained in the archipelago
into the mid 1960s. The Indonesian government faced difficulty
sending them back to China following the break in diplomatic ties
between the two countries after the abortive communist-led coup
in 1965.
Naturalization
Idrus said the upcoming registration was based on a 1993
instruction from the Ministry of Home Affairs, which applied
nationwide, except in East Timor, where all residents
automatically became Indonesian citizens in 1976.
Nine provinces nationwide, North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, South
Sumatra, West Java, Central Java, East Java, East Kalimantan and
South Sulawesi, have carried out similar registration drives.
In Jakarta, the provincial secretary, Harun Al Rasyid, serves
as chairman of the registration team.
"Everyone wanting to register should come in person," Idrus
said. The registration will be done at district offices.
After being registered each person, who qualifies, can apply
for Indonesian citizenship, while the rest will be given
documents to announce their foreign citizenship.
For naturalization, each person has to have more than a dozen
documents, including a birth certificate, a document certifying
loyalty to the nation and good conduct papers, which may cost
each individual a total of Rp 647,000 (US$302.30). (jsk)