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Why citizenship offer for mixed children lacks takers
The government needs to find out why mixed children aren't flocking to take up its offer and choose to gain Indonesian citizenship, lest it misses out on an opportunity to harness the huge potential of their multicultural backgrounds and global experiences in contributing to advancing the nation.
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Harry Suharto (right), a first-generation Indonesian diaspora who has lived over 53 years in Adelaide, South Australia, poses with a group in this undated photograph. (Courtesy of Harry Suharto) (Courtesy of Harry Suharto/Courtesy of Harry Suharto)
T
he May 31, 2024 deadline has passed for submitting naturalization applications for children from mixed marriages who were late to apply for Indonesian citizenship. Unfortunately, the opportunity has been met with a dearth of responses, as evident in the large number of uncompleted application forms piling up at the Jakarta office of the Law and Human Rights Ministry.
The data shows that around 6 million members of the Indonesian diaspora could have taken advantage of the government’s offer. In the last two years, however, only 111 people have applied for naturalization in Jakarta.
It is still not clear why most mixed children are reluctant to apply for naturalization or to keep their Indonesian citizenship. Is it because many parents are still uninformed about the government’s generous offer? Or is it simply because many children opt to follow their mother or father?
The data shows that around 5,000 mixed children born before 2006 have yet to decide their citizenship.
From a series of discussions between the Indonesian Citizenship Institute (IKI) and parents of mixed families, we found that there are still many mixed children who have not yet determined their citizenship.
They still enjoy educational, health and other public facilities in their country of residence, even if they are over 21 years old, and some hope to have dual citizenship for life.
IKI has been helping the government disseminate its naturalization program to several provinces and cities, such as Jakarta, Medan, the Riau Islands and Central Java.
