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Minister in citizenship row
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Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar (second left) shakes hands with Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung while Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi looks on during the announcement of the second cabinet reshuffle at the palace on July 27. (setkab.go.id/Cabinet Secretary)
T
he State Palace has moved to counter accusations that Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar holds US citizenship, which would make him ineligible to serve in a Cabinet position, and maintained that he continued to hold an Indonesian passport while living abroad.
Responding to media reports about Arcandra, who resided in the US for 20 years before returning to Indonesia in July to be sworn in as a member of the Cabinet, State Secretary Pratikno insisted the minister held an Indonesian passport “valid until 2017”.
Pratikno said that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo himself had asked Arcandra, a native of Padang, West Sumatra, to return to Indonesia, and that he had entered the country using an Indonesian passport.
“There are a number of people from Indonesia who have achieved great things abroad and contributed to the nation. Pak Arcandra has that international qualification,” Pratikno said.
Legal experts have commented that if Arcandra is indeed a legal citizen of the US, his appointment as minister could be called into question, as Law No. 39/2008 on ministers stipulates that Cabinet ministers must hold Indonesian citizenship.
The government will revoke the citizenship of any individual who accepts foreign citizenship and dual citizenship is not allowed.
In addition, an Indonesian who continues to hold a valid passport but accepts foreign citizenship is considered an alien according to the Citizenship Law and would have to re-apply for Indonesian citizenship. The use of such a passport to travel to Indonesia constitutes a violation of the Immigration Law.
However, the immigration system lacks the procedures to automatically revoke a passport belonging to an Indonesian who has accepted foreign citizenship.
The controversy over Arcandra’s nationality started after media reports exposed that he had been granted American citizenship after having gone through a naturalization process in 2012.
Arcandra himself has denied the allegations.
“I have returned [the US citizenship]. Ask the relevant authorities. You can see my face, I still look like people from Padang, right? I also speak Indonesian with a Padang accent,” Arcandra told reporters on Sunday as quoted by Antara, without revealing when he had disowned his American citizenship.
The US Embassy in Jakarta declined to comment.
“We are not able to comment on this issue due to privacy concerns,” said John Johnson, press attaché at the embassy.
Meanwhile, when asked if Arcandra had given up his US citizenship, Pratikno said that the question should be addressed to the relevant authorities.
“The point is that when the President asked him to return home, Pak Arcandra felt that he was being called to serve the country,” he said.
Regaining Indonesian citizenship could take years, as the law requires a candidate to have lived at least five consecutive years in Indonesia, but in certain circumstances the process could, at the discretion of the President, be expedited.
The palace declined to reveal if the President had given Arcandra a shortcut to re-apply for Indonesian citizenship.
Parahyangan University constitutional law expert Asep Warlan said that Jokowi and Arcandra should provide detailed evidence, especially legal documents, to show that the minister had indeed revoked his US citizenship and re-applied for Indonesian citizenship.
“If that’s the case, the President should dismiss him from the post first and then grant him Indonesian citizenship. After that the President could re-install him as a minister,” Asep told The Jakarta Post.
The chair of House Commission III overseeing legal affairs, Bambang Soesatyo, urged Jokowi to explain to the public that Arcandra’s expertise in the energy sector was needed, but also to resolve the issues surrounding the minister’s citizenship.
The 45-year-old Arcandra served as president of Houston-based offshore technologies and consulting company Petroneering before being called home by Jokowi to take on the mantle of energy and mineral resources minister.
Arcandra spent more than 20 years in the oil and gas sector in the US, with stints as principal at Horson Wison Deepwater and as principal and president of the Asia Pacific department at AGR Deepwater Development System.
He also holds several international patents in offshore fields.
Evi Mariani, Tama Salim and Margareth S. Aritonang contribute to this story.
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