Hopes were high when President Joko Widodo elected nine new ministers in a cabinet reshuffle on July 27. But only a couple of weeks after the new ministers’ appointments, it appears that the Jokowi administration may have made a grave error in the appointment of one minister who may no longer be a legal Indonesian citizen.
It has been brought to light that new Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar may have held a US passport after going through the naturalization process there in 2012. This has raised questions about Arcandra’s Indonesian citizenship, as Indonesia does not allow its people to hold multiple citizenships.
While Arcandra did not explicitly deny the allegations that he held a US passport, he said he still holds a valid Indonesian passport and, as such, is still an Indonesian citizen.
“I still own an Indonesian passport. All the processes there (in the US), I have returned it all. It has been returned. Ask those with authority. I’m still an Indonesian citizen. Please check my passport,” Arcandra said, as quoted by Detik yesterday.
However, if Arcandra was referring to returning his US passport, that alone would not mean that he would be considered an Indonesian citizen again. If he ever became a naturalized citizen of the US, then his Indonesian citizenship would still have been automatically rescinded as stipulated in Article 31 in Law no. 2/2007 on citizenship, meaning he would have to apply for Indonesian citizenship again as a foreigner.
In addition, Law no. 39/2008 on state ministers specifies that Indonesian ministers must be Indonesian citizens.
The implications of Arcandra’s owning a US passport would go beyond disqualifying him as a minister. If he in fact used his Indonesian passport to pass through immigration here, then he could’ve committed citizenship fraud by using a void passport to enter the country.
There is still a way for Arcandra to regain Indonesian citizenship. As specified in Article 43 in Law no. 2/2007 on citizenship, those who lose their Indonesian citizenship may issue a plea to the president to regain it. However, neither Arcandra nor the government has said anything about taking this route to resolve the citizenship scandal. In fact, the government has yet to publicly address the issue.
Ruling political party PDI-P, of which President Jokowi is a member, said it’s not Jokowi’s administration’s fault if Arcandra’s citizenship turns out to be problematic.
“PDI-P is closely watching those who deliberately put the president in a difficult position that prohibited him from checking intently the ministerial candidates for the reshuffle,” said PDI-P Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto, as quoted by Kompas.
Update: Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly, whose ministry oversees immigration matters, confirmed that Arcandra once held a US passport but never had his Indonesian citizenship formally rescinded by the ministry, as required by law.
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