Hera Diani, Jakarta – Legislators pronounced the citizenship law passed here Tuesday as revolutionary in ending discrimination against Chinese-Indonesians and Indonesian women of foreign spouses, but activists said more needed to be done in the future.
Dewi Tjakrawinata, an executive of Aliansi Pelangi Antar Bangsa (APAB), a group for transnational unions, said traces of the previous 1958 Citizenship Law's nationalistic sentiments remained.
"But this is the best we can do so far, the maximum achievement at the moment. At least there is some progress in terms of the elimination of (the distinction between) 'indigenous' and 'nonindigenous', Indonesian women can pass on their citizenship to their children through dual citizenship for offspring, although it's limited, and there is the permanent residence status for foreign spouses."
She took issue with Article 23 of the law, which states that Indonesians living for five consecutive years in another country must declare their intention to remain Indonesian citizens or face losing their citizenship.
"Many migrant workers are oblivious to this regulation, and their passports are held by their employers, so they end up stateless," she said.
"It is not right that people can lose their citizenship because of an administrative issue." Dewi also urged the removal of Article 26, stipulating that Indonesians who marry foreigners automatically lose their citizenship if the law in their spouses' country states they must assume their partners' nationality.
She said it was clearly discriminatory, because such patriarchal rules were only applied to women around the world. "It (the law) states it is also for men as well, as though it is not gender biased, but it is. Secondly, why should we bow to another country's rule?"
Women's rights activist and legal expert Nursyahbani Katjasungkana told tempointeraktif news portal that Article 23 provided a loophole for fugitives to flee the country and live abroad with impunity.
"This article does not give protection to Indonesian citizens, but instead it gives protection to corrupt people," said the legislator of the National Awakening Party and member of the House of Representatives' formulating team.
Meanwhile, the Institute of Anti-Discrimination in Indonesia (LADI) objected to the law's exclusion of children born in Indonesia to parents whose citizenship was unclear. "This law does not solve problems of stateless Chinese in Benteng area, Tangerang, in Banten province, and Tegal Alur, West Jakarta," it said in a release.
The organization referred to people of Chinese descent who remain stateless because of a wave of anti-Sino sentiment following an abortive communist coup in 1965 and the temporary severance of ties with Beijing.