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Long road ahead for govt's dual citizenship plan
While Luhut's recent comment about a plan to grant dual citizenship has rekindled hope, especially among the Indonesian diaspora, the process until the policy can be issued will not happen overnight.
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Stock illustration of an Indonesian passport (Shutterstock/Andie Nurhadiyanto)
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Indonesia does not currently recognize dual citizenship for adults. The 2006 Citizenship Law only allows children of a mixed marriage to hold dual nationality until they are 18 years old or married, when they must choose one.
But Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said on April 30 that the government planned to grant dual citizenship to former Indonesian citizens living overseas.
“We also invite Indonesian diaspora, and we will give them also, soon, dual citizenship, which I think will help the country’s economy and bring very skillful Indonesians back to Indonesia,” the senior minister said in his speech at a Microsoft event in Jakarta.
If the government moves forward with its dual citizenship plan, one of the first things it must do is to revise the country’s citizenship laws and related regulations, including the 2006 Citizenship Law.
“Issuing dual citizenship will have a vast impact on laws and regulations. This needs further deliberation between the government and the legislature,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lalu Muhammad Iqbal told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
