New hotline to mark No-SBKRI campaign next week

New hotline to mark No-SBKRI campaign next week

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The government will launch next week a campaign in 105 offices
across the country in hopes of preventing local bureaucrats from
demanding from Chinese-Indonesians a controversial citizenship
document when applying for passports.

It has also has a new hotline number (021) 522-5038 for people
to complain about officers who do ask for the certificate, known
as the SBKRI.

"Our policy is clear. The SBKRI is no longer a necessity. An
ID card or a birth certificate is sufficient," Ade E. Dachlan,
the immigration directorate's spokesman, announced on Thursday.

The Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra
-- which oversees the immigration directorate -- is expected to
launch the campaign early next week at the West Jakarta
immigration office.

Ade admitted that some immigration officers still requested
the SBKRI from Chinese-Indonesian when applying for passports.

"But self-styled immigration agents are also involved as they
tell their clients to give them the SBKRI before they go to apply
for passports on their clients' behalf," Ade said.

The SBKRI is often required for Chinese-Indonesians to get
official documents including ID cards, passports and business
licenses. It is not required of indigenous Indonesians or people
who trace to ancestry to India or the Middle East.

"SBKRI is no longer required for making passports for Chinese-
Indonesian citizens. Only the first generation of foreigners who
relinquish their citizenship in favor of Indonesian citizenship
are obliged to present an SBKRI to our officers," Ade said.

Since 1996, the government has actually announced that the
SBKRI was no longer necessary for those who already have legal
citizenship.

However, the decree has not been implemented in many of the
government offices, particularly at immigration offices. They are
reluctant to implement the decree due to what they claim is a
lack of technical instructions.

One recent example is the East Java immigration office, which
issued a circular announcing that the SBKRI was a requirement for
passport applications.

"We are disappointed with the issuance of the (East Java)
circular as we informed our offices about our policy years ago.
We will issue another circular today to annul the East Java
(immigration office) circular," Ade said.

Meanwhile, Lieus Sungkharisma of the Chinese community
organization Parti, said that the Director General of Immigration
Iman Santoso had promised to take stern measures against his
officers who defied the order.

"Those whose passport applications are rejected by immigration
officers due to a lack of an SBKRI may report it to P.O. BOX
888," Lieus said, referring to a mailing address used by his
organization.

Lieus added that Parti would also put up banners at
immigration offices across the country, which inform people that
the SBKRI is no longer needed.

Legal observers have said that government officials consider
the SBKRI a "gold mine".

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has called on Chinese-
Indonesians to say "no" if officers asked them to show the SBKRI
in order to get official documents.