On doubtful citizenship
On doubtful citizenship
From Surabaya Post
A report in Surabaya Post of Sept. 6, under the title of
"Doubtful citizenship of 20,000 Indonesian citizens of Chinese
descent." has left me wondering: What is Wachid Hariyanto, a
member of Commission A of the Provincial Legislative Council,
really after?
Wachid suggested that the applications for Indonesian
citizenship filed in 1996 be reviewed because, he alleged, there
was dishonesty on the part of many of the applicants. He also
suggested that persons whose applications were found to be
incomplete should file new ones. In this way, he argued, the
government could recoup its revenue, which would have been lost
permanently because of these incomplete applications.
About this, I would like to tell Wachid strongly and firmly
that he made a gross mistake here and that he has targeted the
wrong people. Common people should never be sacrificed because
they are ignorant and poor.
Wachid should address this matter to the district court and
the Sub-Team of Assistance for Settlement of Applications for
Naturalization by Resident Chinese Aliens, which was headed by
Dr. F.X. Wibiksana. It is this sub-team that the central
government assigned to help carry out a simple naturalization
program specially intended for Chinese living in Indonesian for
generations.
Ironically, even under this program, which was drawn up to
facilitate naturalization among Chinese residents, each applicant
had to pay Rp 430,000 plus a number of illegal levies for the
application forms from various government agencies for this
naturalization process. Obviously the imposition of these levies,
legal and otherwise, were quite burdensome to the applicants, who
were generally poor.
So, is it fair that they have to be sacrificed again? Won't it
be better for Wachid to ask the authorities to interrogate the
chairman of the sub-team referred to above and his cronies as
well as relevant government officials about this matter? These
people must account for the sums paid by all the naturalization
applicants, estimated to be billions of rupiah.
The money must be recouped and then paid to the state's
coffers. This will be more than enough to make up for some of the
naturalization requirements that they failed to meet in their
application.
Please have respect for the decisions, the policies and the
good will of our highest leadership in the past and at present to
ensure that unity will be reality in our lives.
BIAO WAN
Address known to the editor