Why Indonesia doesn't recognize dual citizenship?

Found this article. It's a year old, so I'm not sure where the revision is currently.
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Saturday, June 26, 2004

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta

American researcher and analyst on good governance Sidney Jones in May sent an e-mail to her Indonesian colleague senior journalist Goenawan Mohamad that if U.S. President George W. Bush were to be reelected in November, she would become an Indonesian citizen.

She is, however, unlikely to keep her word, given that she was deported from the country.

Indonesian law allows foreigners to apply for citizenship with some conditions, including the length of stay of the applicant in the country.

The existing citizenship Law No. 62/1958 states that foreigners can apply for Indonesian citizenship if they have been living in the country for a consecutive period of at least five years, or 10 years not consecutively.

Legislators, however, recently submitted a draft revision of the citizenship law. The draft, among other things, increases the mandatory length of stay to 15 years.

Under the existing law, Jones may be eligible for citizenship.

Article 8 of the draft revision says that foreigners must have been living in Indonesia for a consecutive term of at least 15 years, or 20 years not consecutively, before they can apply for citizenship.

Besides which, the foreigner must speak Bahasa Indonesia fluently and have sufficient knowledge of Indonesia's Constitution and history.

The foreigner must not have committed any crime that is punishable with a minimum of one year in prison in Indonesia. Most importantly, they must have a permanent job and income.

The draft revision also suggests that the application be submitted to the President via the justice minister, while the existing citizenship law says it is enough to submit the application to the minister via a district court.

The President must decide whether to approve the application within three months after the request is made.

The existing citizenship law adopts universal principles: First, the state has the ultimate right to determine who can be granted citizenship, and who will lose it; second, the state cannot interfere with the citizenship regulations of other countries; and third, citizenship must be granted based on certain criteria.

In addition, the law also adopts two other principles from which citizenship is determined.

The first principle, ius sanguinis (law of the blood), states that a person's citizenship, regardless of where they were born, is dependent upon the citizenship of their parents.

The second principle, ius soli (law of the soil), determines citizenship on a person's birthplace.

The citizenship law is designed to prevent apatride (stateless) or bipatride (dual citizenship). Indonesian regulations recognize neither apatride nor bipatride citizenship.

In an attempt to prevent dual citizenship, the draft revision includes new regulations.

It states that an infant whose father is a foreign citizen and mother is an Indonesian can obtain Indonesian citizenship if it is the wish of their parents. This citizenship, however, must not cause dual citizenship.

A child born overseas to an Indonesian couple can be an Indonesian citizen at the request of their parents. A request for citizenship must be submitted to the Indonesian embassy no later than three months after the child's birth, the draft revision says.

A foreign child aged below 21 and unmarried, who is adopted by an Indonesian, will be eligible for Indonesian citizenship if the process does not cause dual citizenship.

Foreigners who contribute to Indonesia -- or for a specific reason -- can be granted Indonesian citizenship by the President with the consent of the House of Representatives.

Indonesian citizens can lose their nationality on certain conditions, including if they join the military service of another country, or live overseas for a consecutive period of five years without declaring their will to remain an Indonesian national.

An Indonesian woman can lose her citizenship if she marries a foreigner whose country applies a law that obliges a woman to follow the citizenship of her husband.

Indonesian citizenship is given to:

1. A child born of the marriage of an Indonesian couple;
2. A child born of the marriage of an Indonesian man and foreign woman -- the status of which does not cause dual citizenship;
3. A child born of the marriage of a foreign man and Indonesian woman, both of whom request Indonesian citizenship for their child -- the status of which does not cause dual citizenship;
4. A child born to an unmarried Indonesian woman, the status of which does not cause dual citizenship;
5. A child born in Indonesian territory that is not provided with citizenship by his or her parents;
6. A child born in Indonesian territory whose parents are unknown;
7. A child born in Indonesian territory whose parents have no citizenship.

Source: Draft revision of citizenship law No. 62/1958
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I think it's ridiculous that the years is extended from 5 to 15 years. IT was fine the way it was when it come to obtaining citizenship. I smell xenophobia.

Dual citizenship in the making?

House to propose new bill on citizenship

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After years of delay, the House of Representatives legislation committee will propose a new bill on citizenship, which aims to eliminate discriminatory articles under the current problematic law.

Legislation committee chairman Muhammad A.S. Hikam said a new law was important because the existing Law No. 62/1958 was no longer appropriate at a time when democracy and equality should reign.

"There are still discriminatory items in the existing law, especially those on foreigners wishing to become Indonesian citizens as well as on former political prisoners," he said on Saturday.

Hikam, also a member of House Commission I on defense and foreign affairs, further said a law on citizenship must not be restricted only to matters of citizenship, but also embody the basic civil rights that come with citizenship.

"It's more fundamental than simply determining the status of someone or the implications of marrying foreigners. If we're going to talk only about status, we have a law on civil records. It needs to be seen as a law to protect citizens' basic rights," he said.

Legislation committee member, Nursjahbani Katjasungkana, said she would push for the inclusion of dual citizenship in the new law as it would indeed bring substantial benefit for the country in terms of better quality human resources as overseas-educated children of mixed parents could come here without the legal barrier of their citizenship.

"Most modern countries are applying it as it makes it easier for mixed parents and their offspring to use facilities in the two countries in question.

This is also to cut all the red tape and erase problems that mixed parents face because of the uncertain status of their children," she said.

Nursjahbani said children of an Indonesian woman married to an expatriate should be entitled to the right to vote and also be exempted from the requirement to possess stay or work permits.

"Moreover, an expatriate wife of an Indonesian man should also be allowed to work," she added.

She said the purpose would be to erase as much as possible all discriminatory items in the existing law -- especially those regarding women and children.

However, Nursjahbani disagreed with her fellow legislator Hikam, saying the articles concerning basic civil rights were already accommodated in the Constitution itself.

"This is a matter of the status of a citizen, about obtaining or losing it. The Constitution already stipulates that basic civil rights are guaranteed," she said.

She also said challenges to a more democratic and flexible law on citizenship would likely come from those with little understanding of nationalism.

A bill to replace the existing law was actually drafted by legislators during the previous term, but was never deliberated.

The legislation committee is scheduled to bring the draft as a House-sponsored bill to a plenary session on Tuesday.

If the House agrees to adopt the bill, the legislation committee will set up a working committee and produce a new draft to be deliberated later with the government.