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