Diaspora Card

The diaspora card will allow the Indonesian government to keep more accurate data on its diaspora abroad, which will be useful for business and networking in the future. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, stated that the data will be used to improve government services for the diaspora, which currently consists of only two full-time staff within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry’s Expert Staff for Diaspora Affairs, Niniek Kun Nasyatie, has added that the card will also be a useful form of identification and marker of diplomatic protection for Indonesian domestic and foreign workers whose passports are often held by their foreign employers. However, the Indonesian Diaspora Network (IDN) raised concerns over unclear eligibility criteria for diasporas and bureaucratic delays that made KMILN implementation less effective than what was being proposed.