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Dual citizenship spells trouble for regent-elect in East Nusa Tenggara
A man with Indonesian and US citizenships gathered support from three political parties and won a regental election in the Indonesian province.
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Workers from the Depok General Elections Commission (KPU) stack ballot boxes at a warehouse in Cimanggis district, Depok, West Java, on Nov. 25, 2020. (JP/P.J. Leo)
E
lection officials found themselves in a quandary when they discovered that the recently elected regent of Sabu Raijua, a small regency in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), is an American citizen.
NTT-born Orient Riwu Kore won the regental election in December last year but had failed to reveal that he had both an Indonesian and United States passport.
Indonesian law does not recognize dual citizenship.
According to media reports, the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) Sabu Raijua office had suspected that Orient also held a foreign passport prior to the race but was unable to find evidence to confirm its suspicions. The Sabu Raijua General Elections Commission (KPU) declared Orient eligible to run for regent in late September 2020, after having only verified the documents Orient had submitted as requirements, which did not mention his foreign passport.
Orient and his running mate won 48 percent of the vote in a three-horse race in December 2020. They were backed by three parties: the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Gerindra Party and the Democratic Party. The KPU confirmed his victory on Jan. 23.
The regent-elect's dual nationality was revealed to the public by Bawaslu last week after it finally received confirmation about Orient’s US passport from the US Embassy in Jakarta. The news instantly drew nationwide attention and election authorities are now scrambling to solve the unprecedented problem.
Orient was recorded as having an Indonesian ID at the Home Ministry’s civil registry database as early as 1997 and holds an Indonesian passport dated April 2019, according to kompas.com.
