Holding a foreign passport does not automatically mean losing Indonesian nationalityJakarta (ANTARA) - A Home Affairs Ministry's official clarified that Indonesians holding a foreign passport did not mean that they automatically lose Indonesia's nationality.
"Holding a foreign passport does not automatically mean losing Indonesian nationality," Director General of Demography and Vital Statistics at the Home Affairs Ministry Zudan Arif Fakrulloh stated during a national symposium on administrative law accessed in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He cited an example of dual citizenship status of the Sabu Raijua district head candidate Orient Riwu Kore and fugitive Djoko Soegiarto Tjandra. Although they respectively hold a United States passport and Papua New Guinea passport, they are still recognized as Indonesian nationals.
They are still Indonesian nationals, as the government has not taken administrative action against them, he noted.
He said the government's administration law adopts factual action (feitelijk handelingen) and legal action (rechtshandelingen), meaning that no case can automatically be declared null and void in the Indonesian administrative system.
"The legal basis is that the higher regulation can annul the lower regulation," he remarked.
Hence, an act cannot be categorized as a concrete legal act in accordance with article 23 of the law if no administrative action has been taken, he stated.
"Hence, we do not know when Orient Riwu Kore and Djoko Tjandra will lose their Indonesian nationality," he remarked.
To that end, he urged the Law and Human Rights Ministry, especially the Directorate General of General Law Administration, to issue a decision annulling the Indonesian nationality of the two people.
The issue should draw attention from all sides, particularly to face the political year of 2024.
"The objective is that the case of Sabu Raijua will not recur," he noted.
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Translator: Muhammad Zulfikar, Suharto
Editor: Sri Haryati
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