The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsDiaspora feel ‘left out’ of dual nationality proposal
Various officials have raised ideas to give dual citizenship for people with Indonesian descent with “exceptional talents”, but some Indonesian diaspora conveyed that such a scheme should also be opened regardless of potential contribution to the country.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Stock illustration of an Indonesian passport. (Shutterstock/Rizvisual)
T
he government’s proposal to allow dual citizenship for “exceptional talents” may overlook people whose ties to Indonesia endure even as professional and personal lives take them elsewhere, according to several Indonesian diaspora.
One of them is Maya, who renounced her Indonesian citizenship when she was 21 years old. Born to an Australian father and Indonesian mother, she decided to keep her Australian citizenship to access subsidized university education.
Indonesia has never recognized dual citizenship. But children born to mixed-nationality parents may hold both nationalities until turning 18, after which they have three years to choose one citizenship.
Despite the citizenship change, she always sees herself as a part of Indonesia.
“When I’m abroad, I tell people I am Indonesian because it feels right,” said Maya, now 27, who spoke to The Jakarta Post under a pseudonym.
Maya is not alone. More than 8,000 Indonesians applied to renounce their citizenship in the past five years, according to the Law Ministry, although the data did not specify applicants’ occupations.
Those who lost their citizenship may be given a second chance. During a speech in August, President Prabowo Subianto proposed a dual citizenship plan limited to people with expertise Indonesia needs, such as athletes, doctors and experts in artificial intelligence.
