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Indonesia election 2024: calls grow for government to relook dual citizenship ban amid ‘brain drain’
- More politicians are calling for a change in the citizenship law to attract skilled former Indonesians who desire to return home
- Jakarta should also look at improving domestic economic opportunities to avert a brain drain, analysts say
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Ahead of next week’s general elections in Indonesia, Marsha Siagian stands out as one of the few legislative candidates pledging to represent Indonesians living overseas by pushing to restart the long-delayed legislative process to allow for dual citizenship.
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Under Indonesian law, citizens automatically lose their nationality once they obtain foreign passports.
“I keep hearing grievances from Indonesians abroad over the lack of progress on the proposed revisions to the country’s 2006 citizenship law to allow them to hold dual citizenship in the country of their residence,” Marsha told This Week in Asia.
A candidate from the progressive Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), the 39-year-old mother of three is running in the February 14 election for a seat in the House of Representatives (DPR) representing Jakarta Electorate II, a constituency comprising those living in the central and south sections of the capital.
Among those who belong to the constituency are overseas Indonesians, who make up around 45 per cent of registered voters.
Marsha said many highly skilled Indonesians had no choice but to work overseas because of limited employment opportunities in their respective fields back home. “Indonesia simply doesn’t have the industries to make full use of their talents.”
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