Facts Behind the Indonesian Regent with United States Citizenship
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5 February 2021 11:01 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The elected Sabu Raijua Regent, Orient P. Riwu Kore, grabbed national attention after the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) discovered that Kore, who ran for the 2020 regional elections (Pilkada), was in fact a United States citizen.
But what else do we know about him? Tempo has gathered 5 details surrounding the man with the first being his dual citizenship. The Bawaslu previously said that Orient Riwu Kore is a US national after claiming to have been corroborated by the confirmation from the U.S. embassy.
However, Kore is also registered in the Indonesian government as an Indonesian citizen. Director-General of Population and Civil Registration claimed Kore had once made a U.S. passport without letting go of his Indonesian citizenship.
The second fact is that Orient Riwu Kore had declared his wealth is valued up to Rp33 billion and owns vast land areas and buildings in Indonesia and the United States - Montgomery, Alabama and California to be exact. He claimed those were all obtained with his private funds.
The third aspect in this citizenship brouhaha is that the Bawaslu had initially contacted the foreign affairs ministry’s directorate general regarding Kore’s citizenship but found that the confirmation letter to the United States embassy had yet been responded to.
Moreover, the Bawaslu assured that this was not new for them as they claimed to have actively tried to confirm Kore's suspected dual citizenship to both the Indonesian government and U.S Embassy, but has yet received an answer to date.
The fifth aspect in the controversy involved the political party that helped Orient P. Riwu Kore ran as a candidate in the regional head election, which is the PDIP - a major political party that has been the vessel for many top politicians in the government including former Jakarta deputy governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat and President Jokowi.
The political party claimed they were ‘caught off guard’ by the revelation of Orient Riwu Kore’s status. Djarot recently said that the Regent had only registered himself as a party member as he was about to run as a candidate in the Sabu Raijua election.
Read: United States Embassy Tight-lipped on Orient Riwu Kore's Citizenship
MUHAMMAD HENDARTYO
