Cataya's Lair

(I'd very much like to give zero star rating, if not minus 5 stars in grey, but the Multiply system does not allow me)

Any expatriate/foreign man who wants to marry me, please prepare US$ 50,000.

The Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia is mulling over the recommendation to require foreign men to deposit some Rupiah 500 million (about US$50,000) before marrying Indonesian female citizens. Yes, people, an Indonesian woman is worth only that. Funny, they are not charging foreign women anything to marry Indonesian male citizen. This sweet American guy that I’m dating casually tried to console me, “Princess, you worth much more than that, more than any amount of money the world can generate.” He better not hangs out around Supreme Court judges, or they might raise the bracket.

Should I establish a greater pride of being Indonesian citizen after generating US$ 50,000 income for my country?
Should I feel ecstatic knowing that I worth Rupiah 500 million more than my male compatriots?

A Supreme Court judge said the idea had been floating around for the past few years. "The judges are concerned about the poor conditions for Indonesian women, particularly when they are separated from their expatriate husbands. The women usually lost custody over their children, who automatically become expatriates, and are left with no money," said the judge who requested anonymity.

This uber-brilliant idea came during the legislation process of the Citizenship Bill. The Citizenship Coalition (comprises of various NGOs from ethnic-based associations, women’s groups, disabled group, research institutes, etc) is currently advocating for non-discriminatory law on citizenship. The draft Bill proposed by the Parliament still bears discriminative articles that undermine individual rights protection, particularly women (mix marriage couple), children, minority groups and disabled people. [See the type of discrimination in the newspaper articles below]. The Coalition believes that one of the solutions would be the acknowledgement of the dual citizenship principle. We discovered along the advocacy process that there have been various resistances from the Parliament on the issues of dual citizenship. One of them is ethnic/race-based.

The restrictions against and traumas over dual citizenship principle stem from previous turbulent Sino-Indonesian relations – dated from 1950s (when a Dual Citizenship agreement between PM Zhou Enlai and President Soekarno was reached). The then Indonesian authority feared Mainland Chinese patriotism amongst the Chinese Indonesian community at that time. Valid as it may at THAT TIME, since Mao’s China was pretty aggressive in asserting their perspective over Chinese overseas through their foreign policy, N O W situation has dramatically changed. Not only that Mainland China’s policy on Chinese overseas has shifted, but the bulk of Chinese Indonesians are deeply rooted in Indonesia.

Dual Citizenship now concerns globalization more than history. In this globalization period, when migration and circulation of knowledge and skills are at their utmost intensity, Indonesia is still tragically trapped in a jurassic mindset of exclusive nationalism while at the same time missing out on the dynamic global spin. None of us in the Coalition would imagine that THIS kind of “protection” would come from the Supreme Court. How thoughtful…

Apparently the only imminent danger of globalization is having foreign men marrying Indonesian women. The flimsy justification to protect the Indonesian women against foreign men in the era of globalization is an insult to women’s rights. Foreign men??? They may be the least danger women in Indonesia have to face compare to the State itself.

During the Parliament Special Hearing Session and Fraksi Hearing Session, I argued with fellow resource person (a professor of law from University of Indonesia) in terms of the dual citizenship mechanism. He thinks that Citizenship Law should be the key that locks/secures nationalism. The government should not allow any narrow interests behind the call for dual/multiple citizenship principle to overcome the importance of nationalism. To maintain nationalism, he said, we must have a strict citizenship law.

It is amazing how people would like to see nation building process develops.
Since when did nationhood become a piece of paper?
Since when did nationalism bear a price tag – in rupiah or dollars (depending on how strong our currency is)?
Since when did nation building stop flourishing after we have our ID and passport or after we marry a ‘bule’?

If women’s rights were to be reduced to a mere US$ 50,000 or Rupiah 500 million (depending on how strong our currency is), what sense of nationhood, of pride over our great nation, of democratic nationalism could spring? What lesson of nationhood, of pride over our great nation we should teach our offsprings?


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RELATED NEWS:

Want to marry RI woman? Pay Rp 500m in deposit
National News - October 10, 2005
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

If you happen to be a not-so-rich foreign gentleman who plans to marry an Indonesian lady here, you'd better tie the knot quickly as the authorities may put an expensive price tag on Indonesian women in the future.

Unknown to many, the Supreme Court is mulling requiring foreign men to deposit some Rp 500 million (about US$50,000) before marrying Indonesian female citizens.

The idea was recommended during a recent Supreme Court national working meeting, which was attended by the Supreme Court leadership and top judges from across the country. It was not immediately clear how the proposed scheme would be implemented.

But according to a document studied at the meeting, such a regulation is applied in Egypt, where foreign men are required to pay a sum of money into a state bank before marrying Egyptian citizens.

"In a bid to protect women, the state of Egypt requires every (male) foreigner who plans to marry an Egyptian citizen to pay 25,000 Egyptian pounds into the Nasser Bank as a bond," said the document, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

The Supreme Court may likely follow up on the idea by submitting it to the government or the House of Representatives, which would draft the ruling.

The recommendation by the male-dominated Supreme Court will add to the complications faced by transnational couples wishing to register their marriages here.

Many consider the current Indonesian law on citizenship as failing to protect transnational couples, particularly marriages between Indonesian women and foreign men.

Such couples must go through lengthy and complicated immigration and other processes to legalize their marriage under Indonesian law.

More problems usually occur later since the Citizenship Law (No. 62/1958), which applies the outdated bloodline principle, does not allow foreign men married to Indonesian women to change nationality, while any children of the marriage will automatically take the same citizenship as the father.

The non-Indonesian husband and children are then treated in much the same way as foreign tourists or visitors. It means they must fly to neighboring countries to renew their visas should the family decide to live in Indonesia.

According to the law as it now stands, when an Indonesian woman who is married to a foreign man dies, her name cannot be inherited by her husband and children.

The Indonesian government instead auctions off the property within one year, leaving the mourning family homeless.

The unfavorable situation has forced many Indonesian women to marry their foreign fiances abroad, although this does not actually solve the problem should they decide to live in Indonesia.

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights has submitted a bill to amend the 1958 Citizenship Law to the House of Representatives. However, the House has yet to list it for further deliberation.

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Bride deposit draws scorn
14 October 2005
Hera Diani and Muninggar Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A woman called up The Jakarta Post the other day in a panic after reading a Post article on the proposal for the government to require expatriate men to deposit some Rp 500 million (about US$50,000) before marrying an Indonesian woman.

"My sister's fiance is Dutch. And he said even if he had the money, he'd be better off investing it in a business," said the woman.

The idea was put forward in a recent Supreme Court national working meeting, the highest forum of judges from across the country. Yet, it is still unclear how and when the proposed scheme would be implemented.

A Supreme Court judge, who attended the meeting, said the idea had been floating around for the past few years.

"The judges are concerned about the poor conditions for Indonesian women, particularly when they are separated from their expatriate husbands. The women usually lost custody over their children, who automatically become expatriates, and are left with no money," said the judge who requested anonymity.

He said the judges were also aware that Egypt had implemented a "good law" to protect women.

According to a document from the national meeting, Egypt obliges a non-national to pay 25,000 Egyptian pounds at a state bank before marrying an Egyptian citizen as a bond.

"The money is not for the state, it remains the couples'. Should the mixed couple get divorced, each is entitled to half of it. The amount is only a suggestion, but we think it is appropriate as it is not cheap to raise your own children who happen to be foreign nationals," said the judge.

The scheme has sparked anger among many people in Indonesia, particularly women, who have accused the state of treating women as a commodity.

Others suspect that it is just another form of corruption and an attempt to coerce profit from expatriates.

This would add to the problems faced by mixed couples here, which are rooted in the problematic Law No. 62/1958 on citizenship that has been called discriminatory against women and children.

Dewi Tjakrawinata, an activist with an alliance that groups about 4,000 mixed parents here, said the issue had moved beyond the citizenship law.

"It's about women's dignity and basic rights. Even parents don't have the right to put a price on their daughters. And what about migrant workers married to fellow workers who are certainly not rich?" she said.

Women's activist and legal expert Nursyahbani Katjasungkana said that rather than ask for a deposit, the civil registry office should just remind every couple to make a prenuptial agreement, or transform the function of mahar (dowry) so that it became a form of insurance.

"Don't follow an Arabic country that doesn't give female citizens any independence. If the government aims to protect its female citizens, then it must make a good policy," Nursyahbani -- who is also a legislator from the National Awakening Party -- said in reference to Egypt.

Under the citizenship law, an Indonesian woman, for instance, cannot sponsor her expatriate husband and their children. So if the husband cannot secure work in the country, he must leave, preventing the family from living a normal life.

An Indonesian wife cannot claim her children either if a divorce takes place as children of mixed marriages are automatically given the father's citizenship, nor can she bequeath her wealth to her children.

There is no record of the number of mixed marriages in the country, but in Jakarta alone, at least 300 new mixed marriages are registered every year.

The House of Representatives recently decided to revise the citizenship law. However, the only "progress" in the draft law proposed is that the children of an Indonesian woman and expatriate man may be granted Indonesian citizenship, but only if it is agreed upon in a prenuptial agreement.

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Court 'pimping RI woman'
The Jakarta Post, 14 October 2005 – Letters to the Editor

What a great story Want to marry RI woman? Pay Rp 500m in deposit was, when it appeared in the Oct. 10 edition of The Jakarta Post. While they can't even deal with the multitude of cases of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) in the country, now the Supreme Court has the bright idea that they will control who people marry.

It seems to me that they didn't realize that their existing stupid law is already demonstrably unfair to all Indonesian women who marry foreigners. Now they are planning to charge foreign men US$50,000 just to marry Indonesian woman?

There will be many wives of foriegn men who are quietly thanking God they have already tied the knot because if this new law is put in place, most women will only be "married" to foreign men.

To the Supreme Court: Are you trying to treat women here as commodities? Aren't migrant workers doing the job well enough?

Will a foreign woman also be charged the same price if she wants to marry an Indonesian male; wouldn't this be a great joke?

There is, of course, is a hidden motive behind these plans: Money. It's a great way to make money out of fact that many Indonesian women simply prefer to marry foreign men. Just like a papa-san.

MELANITA, Jakarta