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On becoming Indonesian citizen
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 12/01/2006 12:57 PM | Opinion
I'm not surprised to read the news in The Jakarta Post, titled Becoming an Indonesian citizen; the headache begins, on Friday, Nov. 24.
This is a classic example of a lack of community participation to help the government build a more informative environment. Our community expects to have everything quickly prepared, highly organized and readily available, while they themselves show no effort.
When the newly born law was followed up less than three months later with a ministerial regulation in October, KPC Melati (the transnational family association) initiated at an interactive dialog on Nov. 21, presenting the justice and human rights minister and officials from related government institutions such as the Civil Registry, the Citizen Administration Office and the Immigration Ministry to disseminate information about how to obtain dual citizenship for children from transnational marriages.
It was quite disappointing, however, that not many transnational families responded to the invitation immediately, although such a dialog might well have been the only source of information they could get before the ministerial regulation took effect. Most of these people preferred to use the service of a third party, or agent, instead.
The new law was created on Aug. 1 and the ministerial regulation passed on Oct. 6. For this unusually speedy implementation, we must applaud the government.
But we must also recognize the implementation has happened faster than the local bureaucracy can move or be mobilized. It is not surprising that the local immigration officials do not know yet the full details of the regulation.
It will not become a headache if, before going on a wild goose chase to obtain the dual citizenship, we do some research first.
The easiest way is to visit the KPC Melati website www.kpcmelati.or.id. We have uploaded information related to required documents and procedures for Indonesian citizenship applications. For those who are too busy or cannot be bothered to do research, KPC Melati also provides a guidance book on this matter.
I hope that the Post report made it clear that information on how to apply for dual citizenship is being made available by associations like KPC Melati and the media, but people still need to be proactive if they want to get this information. The Jakarta office of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry is an excellent place to obtain the documents. So please do not go on knocking on the wrong door, you might be disappointed.
ENGGI HOLT
Chairwoman of KPC Melati
Jakarta
