ANALYSIS: Citizenship issue hits energy minister
Saturday, August 13 2016 - 02:37 PM WIB
Less than a month into his tenure, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arcandra Tahar has been rocked by rumors that he is a foreign citizen, which legally bars him from being appointed as a minister.
Rumors circulating in the industry hold that he has gained a US citizenship. Candra, thus people in general call him, lived in the United States for 20 years after receiving a PhD degree in ocean engineering from respected Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas before being called by President Joko Widodo to become the energy minister to replace Sudirman Said.
On Saturday, Candra was seen coming to the State Palace to meet the President. When asked about the purpose of the meeting, He said the meeting was an ordinary one.
When asked to confirm about the rumor on his citizenship, he said, ?Take a look at my face. This is the face of a Padangese,? referring to his ethnicity.
A source at the palace confirmed that Candra acquired the US citizenship, but he still holds the Indonesian passport which is valid until 2017. He has relinquished his American citizenship. He was called by President Jokowi to come back to Indonesia after living in the US for 20 years as the President considered the country needs his expertise ? Candra holds patents over three petroleum technological inventions.
?The President continues keeping eyes on the best sons and daughters of the nation who work in globally reputed institutions. As for him (Candra), he did not mind relinquishing his relatively high salary in order to dedicate himself for the country,? the source said.
In the US legal system, a person who acquires citizenship through naturalization is still allowed to keep the passport issued by his or her original country. The US government does not revoke their original passports, because the passports are considered to be the property of the issuing countries. In case, he or she go out of the US for a trip using his or her original passport, he or she will be treated a citizen of his or her original country, which makes the person unable to access the service of the US embassies. In case, he or she leaves the US using the American passport, the person is considered an American citizen, thus deserves to receive service from American embassies wherever the person goes.
Law No. 12/2006 on the Citizenship of the Republic of Indonesia bars Indonesians from having dual citizenship, except for underage children of parents of different citizenship. Chapter 23 of the law reads: ?An Indonesian citizen will lose his or her citizenship if he or she acquires foreign citizenship voluntarily?. Meanwhile, Law No. 39/2008 on Ministries states one of the requirements to be a minister is that the person must be an Indonesian citizen.
If Candra proved to have acquired the American citizenship, there are two possible scenarios of what might have happened prior to his appointment as minister: First, there was a vetting process on Candra, during which he admitted to have acquired the US citizenship but he has or will relinquish the citizenship. Second: There wasn?t any vetting process at all or the vetting process, if any, was flawed.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon