Ina Parlina, The Jakarta Post, Washington DC | Headlines | Tue, October 27 2015, 6:24 PM
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has promised that his administration will pay more attention to the growing role of the Indonesian diaspora and seek a way to allow dual citizenship for Indonesian citizens and their families who have permanently settled overseas.
The pledge was made during a gathering of more than 1,000 Indonesians living in the United States, on Sunday, local time, at the residence of the Indonesian Ambassador to United States Budi Bowoleksono.
“I will push for [dual citizenship]. It can be settled soon,” Jokowi said in his response to a question raised by an Indonesian named Hani, who urged the government to immediately amend Law No. 12/2006 on citizenship to allow of the diaspora to have dual citizenship.
Existing regulations do not allow Indonesians to have dual citizenship.
If an Indonesian is awarded citizenship in another country, the person’s Indonesian citizenship is automatically declared invalid.
Some 8 million Indonesian are estimated to be living overseas.
“My son was born in the United States. I’m afraid he cannot be an Indonesian citizen. I want him to have a dual citizenship. Please have the law revised,” said Hani, who lived in what she called a kampung Indonesia (Indonesian village) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where many Indonesians reside.
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said her office was aware of the issue, adding that a studies by a number of institutions, including the government itself, had been conducted since last year to evaluate the benefits of dual citizenship.
“If the President has said so, it means that the direction [of future policy] is already clear now,” Retno said during the event.
“The government is siding with the diaspora because we see great potential in it to support national development. Therefore, such assets need to be managed well through establishing good cooperation,” she added.
The Indonesian Diaspora Business Council (IDBC) has suggested that the financial power of the Indonesian diaspora has begun to benefit the nation, with remittances from Indonesians abroad reaching US$8.4 billion last year.
According to Retno, the formation of a special subunit in 2012 to oversee the diaspora was one example of the government’s seriousness in accommodating the growing influence of the diaspora.
Jokowi also told the crowd of his stern policies while in office highlighting the sinking of 113 foreign vessels caught fishing illegally in Indonesian waters.
“There are people who said that I am not decisive. Well I’ve already sunk 113 ships. That tells a lot,” he said.
The meeting was held shortly after Jokowi arrived in Washington on Sunday afternoon. The President touched down in the US after a 29-hour journey on the presidential plane that transited in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, and Amsterdam.
Aside from First Lady Iriana and Minister Retno, Jokowi was also accompanied by Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said, Trade Minister Thomas Trikasih Lembong, Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki and Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Franky Sibarani.
Prior to meeting with US President Barack Obama on Monday afternoon, Jokowi held one-on-one meetings with ConocoPhillips chairman and CEO Ryan Lance, General Electric Co. vice chairman John G. Rice, Millennium Challenge Corporation CEO Dana J. Hyde and Chevron Corp executive vice president for upstream business James W. Johnson, according to Retno.
In the meeting with Obama, Retno said four issues would be high on the agenda. The first issue to be discussed will be Indonesia’s role as the nation with the world’s largest Muslim population, and one that adheres to a democratic culture of pluralism and tolerance.
The second issue will be Indonesia’s commitment to developing an open economy and a hopes for better cooperation with the US.
“Our recent policies have helped us reveal to the world that we are committed to opening up our economy,” said Retno.
She explained that the third issue would involve Indonesia’s business potential in the digital industry.
“There is so much untapped potential for US businesses in this industry. We are projected to be the biggest in Southeast Asia by 2020.”
The fourth issue would comprise talks on climate change, she said.
After the meeting with Obama, Jokowi is slated to witness the signing of 19 business deals worth some $20 billion in various sectors, according to Retno.
Jokowi will cut short his visit to the US after receiving reports of worsening haze problems in Indonesia. He was originally scheduled to travel to San Francisco on Tuesday and visit Silicon Valley to forge new partnerships in the IT industry.
“We’re going home tomorrow [Tuesday local time]. We will directly head to South Sumatra or Central Kalimantan.” -
Taken from HERE.
Allowing dual citizenship for Indonesians would be a good decision to make for the upcoming elections as it might win the votes of expatriates living abroad. A main incentive for Indonesians to have dual citizenship is for them to be able to enjoy the welfare benefits of a foreign citizenship whilst still retaining social, cultural, and political connections to their homeland. I have some friends who were eligible for foreign citizenships, but chose to give it up in favor of Indonesian citizenship as their families still feel like they are more Indonesian, and that they fear losing contact with their extended families back in Indonesia. If they had chosen their foreign citizenships, they might have had the chance to pay cheaper tuition fees for their studies in their country of expatriation, heavily reducing the financial burdens of being an international student. Reinstating dual citizenship could also attract Indonesian expatriates to retake their Indonesian citizenships, therefore restoring their connection to Indonesia.
ReplyDeleteDual citizenship is already common in many countries and allowing it for Indonesians can only be a positive thing. First, I think it would help people who want to live abroad and don’t want to renounce to their Indonesian citizenship. It could help them emotionally, because they don’t have to give away their citizenship and begin a new life with a different nationality, but also on an administrative point of view. Then, I think it would also be great for people born in a multicultural family to be able to have both their father’s and mother’s nationalities. Some days ago, I was talking to a friend who is half German, half Indonesian, and she told me that she didn’t feel more German than Indonesian but still couldn’t have both nationalities. In my opinion, it would be normal for a person in that situation to be recognized as a citizen of the two countries as they have been raised with the two different cultures.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a positive thing if Indonesia enable the dual citizenship policy. It will benefit and make life easier for Indonesian citizens who wanted to live abroad, but to still keep their Indoneisan nationalities. It will also benefits children who are born from a different nationalities parents, and wanted to keep both nationalities from their parents. Enabling the dual citizenship policy will also widen and strengthen the connection between the two related countries. In my opinion, having a dual passport will also make travelling to countries much more easier, it will also protect the citizens by having a much more secure political protection given by the two countries. I also think that the dual citizenship policy will also boost our country’s economy, because there will be more citizens that are doing business. I think the dual citizenship policy will greatly benefits Indonesia, but Indonesia must be prepared to enable this policy.
ReplyDeleteThe discourse of allowing dual citizenship for Indonesian has started since a couple of years ago. I have been following this issue ever since. I strongly support the idea of having two citizenship because of my personal needs and wants. I agree that the major reason of prohibiting Indonesian to have more than one citizenship is to embed nationalism in each and every Indonesian soul. But, I see that there are many other ways to embed nationalism rather than this. Travelling and going to other places is my hobby but I am always feel limited with visa application and all its bureaucracy. Indonesian passport is one of the least powerful passport with only few free-visa countries we could enjoy. The only reason why I want to have another citizenship (such as European Union, Singapore or Japan) is that because I want to benefit more on the free-visa policy. If the government still can’t give us the dual citizenship rights, then I would suggest the government of Indonesia to start working on a more comprehensive bilateral cooperation with other countries and so that they would allow Indonesian to enter their country without visa. :)
ReplyDeleteThe legality principle that was in mind for the process of no dual citizenship is because of the fact that there will be no legal certainty between the individuals. Some statements that were quoted could not make any sense because if someone’s son lives abroad but he has an Indonesian citizenship, then he can still vote in the nearest Indonesian embassy that follows the presidential elections. What is sometimes forgotten is that when you as a parent is an Indonesian citizen, it does not make your son an Indonesian citizen as well especially if your spouse is from overseas. What this means is that your daughter or son has the ability to choose what citizenship they want to be when they turn 18. And with this freedom, if you daughter or son chooses to not be an Indonesian citizen, then you cannot force the law to allow him to vote because when you are an Indonesian citizen, it does not mean that your child is.
ReplyDeleteDual citizenship is one of the ambitious target of President Joko Widodo’s government and it is still far from realization. I think the main reason of allowing dual citizenship for Indonesian is to boost the tax revenue. The tax revenue could be collected in a form of foreign currency and will help the government to build the economy of Indonesia. Other reason of allowing dual citizenship is to attract many educated people that originally Indonesian but have renounced their Indonesian passport when studying aboard. Back in 2016, Indonesian government was planning to appoint Archandra Tahar as Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources but the government backed down after receiving backlashes from Indonesian people. Archandra Tahar is an Indonesian that has studied and lived in the US for 20 years, thus renounced his Indonesian citizenship for US citizenship. He is a genius with 6 international patents in energy industry. I think allowing dual citizenship for Indonesian will improve the development of Indonesia by having steady source of foreign exchange and attracting many educated Indonesian to come home and build their mother country.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a great idea to allow dual citizenship for Indonesians. Nowadays, there are a lot of Indonesians who have businesses, study or even live abroad. Allowing dual citizenship will make everything much more easier for them, since if they’re still have the Indonesia citizenship, they don’t have to renew their visa every time they do their activities abroad. Indonesians who lives abroad also can still have their Indonesia citizenship while having another country citizenship too. A lot of Indonesians who live abroad ended up choosing to give away their Indonesia citizenship because the law prohibit them to have dual citizenship, I think it somehow gives disadvantage to Indonesia (since a lot of Indonesians who lives abroad actually contribute a lot of money to the country), so it’s better to revised the law to allow dual citizenship than to lose the citizens. Also, if the government allow Indonesians to have dual citizenship, I think it will be more convenient for Indonesian students to study abroad since if they have the citizenship for the country, they can pay with the citizen tuition fee which is cheaper than the international student tuition fee.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of having dual citizenship is an ongoing conversation in both the government and society in general. Some people support the idea of dual citizenship because of the multiple benefits that are given to them in return. I do agree to support this idea, but under several circumstances that need to be considered. The first one is that a person may only acquire dual citizenship if the person has direct interests within his/her native and foreign country. Examples of this would be family connections, health matters, education and business. Other reasons such as tourism or plain initiation to be citizen of another country should be rejected, because it would be unnecessary hassle for both governments and puts derails the characteristic of patriotism and nationalism. In my personal experience as a person who has lived abroad for quite a while, I would choose to only retain one citizenship. Because I feel that the affection and loyalty you show to one country will fade away as time passes by. So really the benefit of having dual citizenship is really not there.
ReplyDeleteDual citizenship is an interesting idea to me. Its not a completely foreign idea to me as, If Im not mistaken, the Philippines allows this already. And with one of our South east Asian comrade already in the loop of dual citizenships, I do not see why we should not consider this. For sure this will open up more opportunities for various personal endeavours. This could mean relationships, job opportunities, search for better living conditions, etc. This is because certain nationalities provide some privileges that could benefit us in multiple ways, one of which is no visa required travels. Education opportunities such as scholarships are usually available only to citizens of a country and I think that this is the sort of privileges a person would look for, most especially prospective students or perhaps parents who want their children to have such unique oppurtunity. I believe that allowing dual citizenship in Indonesia will help than do harm to people.
ReplyDeleteDual citizenship is a privilege for every citizens worldwide, the fact that Jokowi pledges to allow dual citizenship is a big step for Indonesia. There are many benefits of dual citizenship including education and business, it could help in the long run considering there are countries which are financially stable or more "rich" than Indonesia; so it would be better to have dual citizenship especially for Indonesians. Education wise, there are still rooms for improvement in Indonesia therefore it would be better if children who has dual citizenship continue their study abroad because nowadays it’s very complicated for Indonesian students to study abroad or apply for a scholarship because they have to go through legal stuff. However, don't let this distract the fact that Indonesians who has dual citizenship might lose their Indonesian pride overtime. It's okay to have the welfare benefits of other countries but keeping our culture and traditions.
ReplyDeleteThere are many Indonesian diasporas abroad who prefer to dispel their Indonesian citizenship since some may prefer their life in foreign countries. In some countries, say the EU, being their citizen is not only much more favorable socially, but also financially. The presence of dual citizenship for Indonesian will allow Indonesian to have opportunities abroad, yet will still allow them to return to their roots by being able to fly to Indonesia visa-free and give political decisions, such as voting.
ReplyDeleteBenefits by having a dual European and Indonesian citizenship may allow a cheaper cost for education since the price gap for European and foreigners in universities are significant. Health care can be considerably cheaper for citizens in the EU, and those with EU citizenship can actually conduct business easier in the area due to permit and no barrier of trade. Aside from that, the presence of Schengen can also allow those in the EU to move freely across the EU countries and have better access to job opportunities.
Allowing Indonesia citizen to have other citizenship is a great idea. As mentioned on the article, allowing dual citizenship for Indonesian will benefit Indonesia in many aspects, especially business and education. This policy will also benefit Indonesian citizen that have family in another country. For example when your parents are from different country, as Indonesia recognized citizenship by having one or both parents who are citizens of the state or we called it jus sanguine, and you have dual citizenship until you reach seventeen. After that you have to choose one citizenship, because Indonesia not allow dual citizenship, meeting your family will be more difficult as you have to arrange a visa. There is a lot of Indonesian that work overseas, by allowing dual citizenship it will be easier for Indonesia to having a business or working in another country. It will also helping Indonesia economy, as the total income of Indonesian citizen that working overseas is huge.
ReplyDeleteAllowing dual citizenship for Indonesians would definitely be more advantageous for us than disadvantageous. Indonesians could have dual citizenship, and therefore be eligible for jobs abroad, in which the money would most likely be sent back to Indonesia in remittances. As for the individuals, it would be easier to enter different countries with a stronger passport. The state would also receive more money because if dual citizenship is allowed, then foreigners would also apply for an Indonesian citizenship which would raise the population and the GDP/GNI of the state.
ReplyDeleteA negative impact would be less jobs for the current Indonesians as more foreigners apply for an Indonesian citizenship, most would be skilled workers that could potentially replace less skilled workers here, leaving unemployment rates to go up as more foreigners take on jobs here. Indonesians could also potentially take advantage of the dual citizenship and not returning back, while staying overseas .
I think it is possible and very beneficial for the country and also for the person itself, but first, what is dual citizenship? It’s a citizen of two countries at the same time, and once a citizen becomes a dual, Dual citizens receive the benefits and privileges offered by each country. They can vote in both, and access either country’s social services. They can work in either one without a permit or visa, or attend school at the citizen tuition rate. Dual citizens can carry passports from both countries. That eliminates the need for long-stay visas, and you’ll hear no questions about your trip when you travel between the two. It also allows you to own property in either country, since some countries restrict land ownership to their citizens. By doing so, people now will be more mobile between countries, and each person can bring many benefits, once they travelled this can trigger also equal development.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, as a dual citizen, the laws of both countries bind those who are a dual citizenship. For example is that if you’re a U.S. citizen and a citizen of a country with mandatory military service, you can lose your U.S. citizenship under certain circumstances, such as if you’re an officer in the foreign military. Another negative perspective is that in cases like U.S they are taxing those citizens for income earned abroad, so you might be taxed twice. Dual citizenship can also make it difficult to attain a security clearance that’s necessary for government jobs. Therefore, having a dual citizenship has both positive and negative, but I prefer to have dual citizenship due to the condition that it offers for us to live the most out of our life rather than just being stuck in one country. By Dual Citizen, we can easily live and work in two countries, making less boredom.
Delete