A discourse emerged over the Indonesian government’s plans to grant dual citizenship to skilled Indonesians who are currently based overseas.
During the Microsoft Build: AI Day event in Jakarta, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, said that the government is planning to offer dual citizenship to people of Indonesian descent and/or former Indonesian citizens who are currently based in countries outside Indonesia. This plan aims to attract more skilled workers to the country.
Pandjaitan, however, did not provide more details about the plan, opting to simply say, “We are inviting the Indonesian diasporas and we will soon give them dual citizenship” in the opening speech that he delivered during the Microsoft Build: AI Day event, taking place at Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on Tuesday, the 30th of April.
“I think this plan can bring a lot of talented Indonesians back to Indonesia,” Pandjaitan also added.
Native Indonesians changing their citizenship due to better job opportunities overseas have grown more prevalent in recent years. As of the year 2024, for example, approximately 4,000 native Indonesians have permanently changed their citizenship to become Singaporean citizens. This change in citizenship, according to data collected by the Directorate General of Immigration, predominantly took place between the period of the year 2019 and the year 2022.
Regardless of Pandjaitan’s statement, Indonesian Immigration has yet to neither respond nor provide more elaborations regarding the plan to allow dual citizenship for diasporas of Indonesian descent.
In Indonesia, general citizenship arrangements are based on the principles of jus soli and jus sanguinis. The term jus soli refers to citizenship based on land of birth, whereas jus sanguinis is determined by blood relationship.