It can also be granted to a permanent resident who has lived in Indonesia for a given period of time through naturalization, as long as the parents are stateless, or unknown.

Applicants must be in good physical and mental health; be financially self-sufficient; and prove that they have no criminal record which resulted in a jail sentence of one or more years.

[9] The other type of naturalization is for exceptional merit, including contributions to culture, the environment, humanity, science, sport, or technology, which can or will enhance the nation.

[8] Public or private organizations can propose a candidate to the Minister of Law and Human Rights for their extraordinary contributions.

[11] Indonesians may voluntarily renounce their nationality if they have reached legal majority, have full capacity and will not be rendered stateless by such renunciation.

[12][16] In 2024, government official Luhut Pandjaitan announced that Indonesia may offer dual citizenship to people of Indonesian descent to encourage high-skill workers to move back to the country and boost the economy.

[17] The written history of Indonesia encompasses 800 years, spanning some 400 now autonomous regions and including in the boundaries of the archipelagic country around 18,000 islands.

[18][19] For centuries before European colonization, the various islands were linked either by trade or familial ties and at various times shared rulers.

[21] Art, governance structures, and religion were absorbed and modified by the early inhabitants of the islands, Austronesian peoples, who lived in scattered tribal settlements, which were united by kinship ties.

[25][26] Though they did not follow India's caste system, the early kingdoms used the terminology of Indian courts to delineate the power divisions within their territory.

[33] Afonso de Albuquerque sailed to India in 1503 and conquered Goa in 1510, establishing a trading base for the Portuguese.

[34] Immediately, Francisco Serrão launched an exploration from Malacca to find the spice islands to the east, but was shipwrecked in 1512.

Hearing of the incident, the sultans of the neighboring islands, Tĕrnate and Tidore, sought to build alliances with the Portuguese.

Under the ordinances, courts were granted the ability to interpret common law, statues, and custom creating opinion for newly arisen situations.

The Portuguese dismantled the system of policing the Straits of Malacca to protect commercial vessels and dispersed the trade centers to various ports.

[40] Recognizing the weak position of the Portuguese in the archipelago, Cornelis de Houtman led an expedition in 1595 to Java.

[53] Foreigners who had lived in the Netherlands or one of the colonies for five years were able to naturalize after reaching legal adulthood and renouncing their prior nationality.

Changes were made in 1910 to the nationality scheme which rendered individuals living in the archipelago as "Dutch subject, non-Dutch citizens", a status that would remain until Indonesia gained independence in 1949.

In 1945, Indonesia declared independence and drafted a constitution which provided in Chapter X Article 27, "without any exception, all citizens shall have equal position in Law and Government".

[59] Ordinary naturalization of foreigners required persons of legal majority to speak the Indonesian language and to have lived in the territory for a minimum of five years.

[60] On December 27, 1949, a conference was held in The Hague to draft an agreement under which the Dutch officially recognized Indonesian sovereignty.

[69] In 1967, the People's Republic of China and Indonesia severed diplomatic relations ending the Dual Nationality Treaty's terms in 1969.

[67] From the 1965 attempted coup d'etat and development of the New Order in Indonesia, discriminatory policies against ethnic Chinese escalated.