Today I Learned: How to Renounce Indonesian Citizenship in 2021

You will need: materai (preferably Rp 10,000), birth certificate, KTP/KK, passport, approval letter, 2 photographs 4x6cm, and if applicable, marriage certificate. 

Also, good planning of leave application in order to avoid applying for "urgent leaves".

Step 1: Apply for Singaporean citizenship and get in-principle approval.

Step 2: Complete Singaporean Journey.

There're 3 e-activities to be completed within 2 months of the issuance of in-principle approval, via SC Journey website.

Step 3: Wait for approval letter from ICA.

Step 4: Create an account in SAKE (Sistem Administrasi Kewarganegaraan Elektronik).

It takes a few days for my account to be issued after I registered. Actually, I registered with my normal email account, and nothing happened. I thought that for some reason the registration didn't take so I tried again to create an account a few days later, and I got an error message saying that my email account is already registered. 

So I emailed the administrator of this website, and I got the marvelous reply to just register again with a new email address.

(I suspect I did receive an account creation email when I created it the first time but it landed in my spam and got deleted before I had the sense to check my spam folder).

Step 5: After getting the approval letter from ICA, get it translated to Bahasa Indonesia by a sworn translator. In case you were married in Singapore, then you should also translate the ROM certificate.

Step 6: Once your translated approval letter and ROM certificate, send the following documents to a notary based in Indonesia to be notarized: 

1. Birth certificate.

2. Marriage certificate (if it's in English, both the English copy and the translated copy).

3. Passport.

4. KTP or Kartu Keluarga.

5. Approval letter from ICA (both English and translated copy).

Step 7: Prepare 2 photographs, sized 4x6cm.

Step 8: Log in and request for "Permohonan Surat Keterangan Kehilangan Kewarganegaraan RI Atas Kemauan Sendiri Bagi Orang Yang Belum Memperoleh Kewarganegaraan Asing"

There will be a form to fill up. I think it's pretty self explanatory, except for the Surat Keterangan Naturalisasi. I filled this with the reference number in the approval letter (ROC-2020-APP-123456789).

Step 9: Submit the form. There will be a letter available for download.

Step 10: Download and print the letter, put a materai on the signature field and sign across the materai and the paper (your signature should touch both materai and paper). I used a Rp10,000 materai.

Side note: I literally don't know what "materai" is in English, and I'm not very sure if any other country in the world uses this kind of stamp.

Step 11: You will also be directly to a download page. Unfortunately, this is a strictly counter transaction. I chose "Luar Negeri", clicked "Simpan", then I printed the payment page. I went to BNI at Cecil Street early in the morning before they even open, queue while the staff there opened up 10 minutes after their opening hour, and wait some more for them to finally get to me. I paid around 50 SGD, and was told that I need to get the receipt TOMORROW in person (I can ask someone to get it for me, but someone needs to get out of their office in the middle of working hour).

I didn't expect this...inefficiency, so I didn't apply for 2 days of leave consecutively.

Step 12: Once you get the receipt, scan and upload it to the SAKE website.

The payment needs to be made within 7 days of the e-submission of the request in SAKE website, otherwise the request will be cancelled automatically.

I would like to think that SAKE/AHU will know about the payment automatically without us uploading the receipt (which, by the way, the receipt is super blurry, and the scanning made it worse).

But I wouldn't put it past them to screw this one up as well.

Step 13: If you managed to get all your notarized papers and your receipt, send those and the signed letter from Step 10 to the AHU office in Jakarta. 

Step 14: Wait until they receive the documents, and check it. 

Once all 5 status turn green, a letter will be available to download. Download letter and print it.

Step 15: Make an appointment with KBRI to surrender your passport. Appointments are made via email (imigrasi@indonesianembassy.sg). Attach the downloaded letter from Step 14 in the email.

Step 16: In the mean time, translate the letter from Step 14 to English, and have it notarized.

Step 17: Go to KBRI, surrender your passport. They will give you a chit with a date for you to come back there to get a letter to say that you have surrendered your passport. For me, I had to come back 2 days after my appointment.

Step 18: Go back to KBRI to get the letter.

Step 19: Go to ICA for oath taking. Bring the approval letter, original and translated letter from SAKE/AHU, letter from embassy, Blue IC, and 3 recent photographs sized 35x45mm. Original and photocopies for all documents.

Step 20: Get pink IC in 2 weeks time.