JAKARTA - The Indonesian government has again shown its commitment to national sports development by giving citizenship to four female soccer athletes through the naturalization mechanism.
The Director General of General Legal Administration (Dirjen AHU), Widodo, who was accompanied by Plh. Director of State Administration of the Directorate General of AHU (Ditjen AHU), Hantor Situmorang, officially took the oath and pledge of allegiance to citizenship which took place in Jakarta, Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
The four athletes, namely Emily Julia Frederica Nahon - have an Indonesian lineage from her father whose grandmother was born in Bogor, West Java.
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The centre-back was promoted to the U-19 team ADO Den Hague (Level 1 Netherlands) in the 2023/2024 season and often played in senior teams.
The second athlete is Felicia Victoria de Zeeuw. He has an Indonesian lineage, namely that his mother's grandmother was born in Jakarta.
The attacking midfielder was promoted to the U-16 ADO team Den Hague (Level 1 Netherlands) in the 2021/2022 season. In the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 seasons, he moved up to the U-19 team. Then, in the 2024/2025 season Felicia played with the senior team ADO Den Hague.
Third, Iris Joska de Rouw, who will be relied on as goalkeeper for the Indonesian Women's National Team, has an Indonesian lineage from his grandmother who was born in Lumajang, East Java.
He previously spent three seasons on Sparta Rotterdam's Youth team (2019-2022). Currently, he is promoted to senior Sparta Rotterdam team.
Finally, Isa Guusje Warps. He has an Indonesian lineage from his grandmother who was born in Padang, West Sumatra.
As a right-wing striker, he previously had a career at the Belgian Club, KRC Genk Ladies (Level 1 Belgium), and joined the club's senior team until the end of the 2023/2024 season.
During the 2024/2025 season, he returned to the Dutch team, namely NAC Breda (Level 1 Netherlands).
Widodo in his speech emphasized that naturalization is not just a change in citizenship status.
"This momentum is not only about changing citizenship status, but also about expectations and big ideals in order to build Indonesia's progress," said Widodo.
Athlete naturalization is regulated in Law Number 12 of 2006 concerning Citizenship of the Republic of Indonesia, where in this case citizenship is carried out through a mechanism of state interest or for foreigners who have contributed to the state.
In this naturalization process, the Ministry of Law is also supported by a team between ministries/Institutions that are members of the Examining and Research Team for Providing Citizenships (TP4) - consisting of the Ministry of Law, in this case the Directorate General of AHU, Ministry of State Secretariat, Ministry of Youth and Sports, and related sports organizations.
Not only that, there are also the involvement of many other parties, such as the Ministry of Home Affairs, in this case the Population and Civil Registry Office, and the State Intelligence Agency.
Meanwhile, athletes must also go through a series of stages including attending meetings in order to ask for consideration from the House of Representatives (DPR RI).
The addition of four female footballers in the Indonesian Women's National Team squad is not new.
Previously in 2024, the Government had also naturalized two players, namely Estella totaling Loupattij and Noamen Christina Cornelia Leatomu, who are expected to open up opportunities to perform optimally in international-scale prestigious tournaments.
Several long-term agendas for the Indonesian Women's National Team are to achieve the target of being ranked in the top 50 FIFA (the top 10 of Asia), qualifying in each AFC Women Asian Cup final round, and qualifying for the FIFA Women World Cup 2035.
This is the great ideal of the entire Indonesian nation as well as President Prabowo Subianto.
Widodo added that the presence of diaspora athletes who have blood from Indonesian descent is a form of the Government's commitment to provide equal opportunities for them to defend the Red and White.
Widodo also emphasized his commitment to support all naturalization processes for the benefit of national sports achievements.
"The Minister of Law has given directions to support and accelerate all naturalization processes that have the interests of national achievement and national pride, of course with the provisions of laws and regulations in the field of citizenship," he said.
The government also emphasized the importance of support from various parties, including the public and the private sector, in building a healthy and competitive sports ecosystem.
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