D

ec. 21, p. 6

A bill allowing dual citizenship for Indonesians living abroad is currently being mulled. I strongly support it for it provides ease for transnationalism to occur between nations so we can benefit from each other’s existence. As a Silicon Valley resident, I have come to observe the Indonesian, Indian and Silicon Valley diasporas worldwide. (By Jennie S. Bev, Jakarta)

Your comments:

Hi Jen, seems what you have in mind is dual citizenship. The first Indonesian I knew who spoke passionately about dual citizenship was male, Muslim and Javanese - the triple majority. He said it was not about dividing loyalty or playing safe — it was about common sense.

Unfortunately, while Indian founding fathers chose to keep in touch with the UK after their non-violent independence movement, our past leaders chose to cut all cultural ties with the Netherlands (1956), expelled the Dutch (1959), made close ties with xenophobic North Korea (1963) and then banned the Chinese culture (1967).

Indians are proud of overseas Indians who’ve made it in Malaysia, the US and UK, while many Indonesians are suspicious of and even cynical toward Indonesians studying overseas.

A former VP thought that overseas Indonesians were only migrant workers in Saudi and Malaysia, and well, politicians’ messages for the Indonesian diaspora (after they are told of its existence) are either “Come home and help build Indonesia” or “Don’t forget to support us here.”

I’m pessimistic that Indonesia will approve the idea of dual citizenship, especially after the backtracking on the possibility of dual citizenship for children of mixed couples a few years back.

Most friends and family members choose to retain their Indonesian citizenship, while some brave people choose to look forward.

Mario Rustan