Surat Bukti Kewarganegaraan Indonesia from 1973, obverse

Surat Bukti Kewarganegaraan Indonesia from 1973, reverse

A Republic of Indonesia Certificate of Citizenship ( id, Surat Bukti Kewarganegaraan Republik Indonesia, abbreviated SBKRI) was an

identity card An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any documentation, document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID c ...

establishing citizenship in the Republic of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The SBKRI was used to discriminate against Indonesians of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

descent. It was required to enter

academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

, obtain a passport, to register for an election, and to get married. The requirement was eventually abolished although local bureaucracies have continued to engage in abuses. The legal bases for SBKRI legal was established with the Act No. 62 of 1958 issued by the Ministry of Justice G. A. Maengkom and approved by President

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...

. It came in the wake of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

's decree that all Chinese people everywhere are citizens of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

based on the principle of

jus sanguinis ( , , ; 'right of blood') is a principle of nationality law by which citizenship is determined or acquired by the nationality or ethnicity of one or both parents. Children at birth may be citizens of a particular state if either or both of t ...

(blood descendants). This was followed with the Dual Nationality Agreement between Indonesia and China between

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 J ...

and

Soenario Soenario Sastrowardoyo ( EYD: Sunario Sastrowardoyo; 28 August 1902 – 18 May 1997), more commonly known simply as Soenario, was an Indonesian politician, and diplomat, who served as the 7th Foreign Minister of Indonesia, from 1953 until ...

in 1955.

Reform

On July 8, 1996, President

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

issued Presidential Decree (Decree) No. 56 of 1996 on Proof of Indonesian Citizenship. Chapter 4, point 2, reads, "For the citizens of the Republic of Indonesia, which has had a national identity card (KTP), or Family Card (KK), or a birth certificate, the fulfillment of the requirements for the particular interests simply use the Identity Card, or Card Family (KK), or the Birth Certificate. " While Article 5 reads, "With the enactment of this Presidential Decree, all legislation that for certain interests require SBKRI, is no longer valid." At 1999, Presidential Instruction No. 4/1999 on the Implementation of Presidential Decree No. 56/1996 was issued, which invalidates the SBKRI for ethnic Chinese who has become a citizen. However, practice of SBKRI requirements still exist in the government bureaucracy because of the lack of socialization of the implementation of this decree, and also because of the weakness of the Indonesian legal system that led to the legislation can not simply be ignored.

Timeline

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...
era

* 1946 - Indonesian legislation establishes that Indonesia adheres to the principle of

jus soli ''Jus soli'' ( , , ; meaning "right of soil"), commonly referred to as birthright citizenship, is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. ''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contras ...

and anyone who was born in Indonesia is an Indonesian citizen. The Chinese people in Indonesia since the Proclamation of 1945 were considered ethnic Chinese Indonesians. * 1949 - The Chinese in Indonesia were required to choose whether they want to be a citizen. * 1955 - A Dual Nationality Treaty was signed between China and Indonesia. It is based on a claim of Mao Zedong that China adheres to the principle of jus sanguinis, which meant that anyone who was born into a Chinese family (offspring of male Chinese) automatically becomes a citizen of China. (This is a political reason for the support of overseas Chinese circles as done by

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

(Taiwan)). In the Asian-African Conference held in Bandung in 1955, Zhou Enlai stated that ethnic Chinese in Indonesia owes allegiance to their ancestral state. * 1958 - An agreement set forth in the Act confirms that the Chinese in Indonesia will be allowed to choose their nationality of China or Indonesia once more, with the deadline being the 1962 elections. They must choose allegiance and maintain a single citizenship.

New Order

* 1969 - The Treaty of Dual Nationality gets canceled. Those with

dual nationality Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...

become stateless. * 1978 - SBKRI is required for Chinese citizens as per a regulation issued by the Minister of Justice. * 1983 - A decree passed by the Minister of Justice confirmed that the SBKRI is only mandatory for those who took the declaration in having a Dual Nationality and expressed the desire to become a citizen. As such, a single citizen and its descendants (who has claimed to be a citizen before 1962 and their descendants, as well as all of those who were born after 1962) are not required to have SBKRI. * 1992 - A decree issued by the Minister of Justice confirms that descendants of SBKRI holders are enough to prove their citizenship. * 1996 - SBKRI is no longer required for Chinese citizens by a presidential decision; however, it is not publicly known due to the lack of socialization.

Reformasi

* 1999 - The Presidential Decree of 1996 was reinforced once again by the Presidential Decree of 1999.

References