Mixed marriages, a life full of mixed problems

Mixed marriages, a life full of mixed problems

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian Harsi Watts is a widow. Her Australian husband died
16 days before she gave birth to their only daughter, who is now
two-and-a-half-years old.

With the lost of the family breadwinner, Ai, the name by which
Harsi's late husband used to call her, faces endless problems
concerning her mixed marriage and her "Australian" daughter.

And these problems mean lots of money and humiliation.

Ai has to produce the legal documents certifying her marriage
and the death of her husband each time she gets in touch with
either the Indonesian or the Australian government, since she is
now the sponsor for her daughter to be allowed to stay in
Jakarta.

She paid Rp 3 million (US$332) to get a stay permit for her
daughter and hundreds of thousands of rupiah to extend the permit
every year. She can barely afford these costs on the money she
makes with her home business.

To free herself of these expenses, Ai tried to register her
daughter as an Indonesian citizen. "The application was rejected.
The officials said my daughter had to be 18 so she could make the
decision on her own."

As an Australian, there is no way the girl can enter a school
in Indonesia, unless it is one of the expensive international
schools

The current Indonesian law on citizenship fails to protect
mixed couples, discriminating between marriages between
Indonesian men and foreign women, and Indonesian women and
foreign men.

Using the ius sanguinis (blood line) principle, Law No.
62/1958 on citizenship -- which is now under revision -- does not
allow foreign men married to Indonesian women to change
nationality, while any children of the marriage will
automatically be given the same citizenship of the father.

The non-Indonesian husband and children will be treated
similar to foreign tourists or visitors.

The legal consequences of this law has caused Windya, 27, and
her Australian husband of three years to delay having children.
The two of them see the issue of nationality as a problem.

"I don't want to change my citizenship. Meanwhile, to most
foreigners like my husband, being an Indonesian has no benefits
in the eyes of the international community. I, myself, an often
treated like I was a criminal," Windya said.

Ai and Windya are just two Indonesian women married to foreign
men who gathered on Saturday to urge that the citizenship law be
changed. The gathering was held by the Association of Indonesian
Women in Multinational Marriages (Srikandi), with support from
the Legal Aid Institute-Association of Indonesian Women for
Justice (LBH-Apik).

The women exchanged stories and experiences, and in many cases
tears.

Srikandi cochair Sri Lienau, told of the difficulties faced by
her daughters.

Married to an American man for 26 years, the couple raised
their children with a full understanding and appreciation for
Indonesian culture. Unfortunately, the children cannot work in
the country unless they get a work permit.

Their youngest is studying abroad. She wants to be a city
planner so she can help make Indonesian better. She has mastered
the West Java classical dance Jaipong, Balinese dances and the
traditional Javanese musical instrument the siter.

"But she can only return home to us by using a tourist visa.
She realizes that she cannot work here no matter how much she
sees herself as an Indonesian. 'I feel hurt,' is what she said to
me," Sri said.

One Indonesian woman who lived in the U.S. was arrested by the
police on charges of kidnaping when she and her son attempted to
escape from her abusive American husband.

Another women keeps silent about the abuse she receives from
her foreign husband, because she fears immigration will deport
her husband and their three children from Indonesia.

According to the citizenship law, when an Indonesian woman who
is married to a foreign man dies, any property in her name cannot
be passed to her husband and children. The Indonesian government
will instead auction off the property within one year, leaving
the mourning family homeless.

In addition, they said many Indonesian wives with foreign
husbands were not allowed to enter the civil service, while
foreign wives can only work as volunteers or contract employees.

An Indonesian man who lives in the country of his foreign wife
is not allowed to change citizenship or to work in that country.

The situation is no better for a foreign wife with an
Indonesian husband. If the couple has marital problems, for
example, it would be impossible for her to leave the country
without the consent of her husband.

If an Indonesian husband and his foreign wife divorce or if
the husband dies, there is no way for the wife to extend their
her stay permit here, because the husband is her only sponsor.

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights is currently drafting
a bill to amend the 1958 law on citizenship. It has promised to
submit the bill soon to the House of Representatives for further
deliberation.

Hopes are high the bill will protect mixed nationality couples
and their children, returning to women the right to make
decisions on their own, including changing the nationalities of
their children.