Wednesday, 4 November 2015

Conversion from Indonesian to Singaporean

In February 2014, i have decided to convert my citizenship from Indonesian to Singaporean. 
Reason: i have been staying in Singapore for half of my life (15 years) and i have considered Singapore as my home. I love the transport system in Singapore as i could move around easily and do not have to to be caught in the traffic jam as bad as in Jakarta. 
Do i still love Indonesia? Yes, i love the food and my family and relatives are residing in Indonesia, hence i still go back often.

I heard from people that it would not be easy for me to get the citizenship as i was married and i applied alone and not as family. From feeling anxious in waiting for the result to give up my hope as i there was no news on my application for more than a year.
The procedures are as follow:-
1) Submission of documents to ICA
    Please refer to ICA website for the eligibility, documents required, procedures and fees payable.
    Once the documents are submitted, you will receive a receipt with your application number (it is useful to check the status of your application online).

2) Approval-in-principle Letter
Normally it takes about 3-6 months to receive Approval in-principle letter by post, but i received 15 months after i have submitted my documents. In a letter, you will be asked to complete a Singapore Citizenship Journey within two months from the date of issuance of the letter and the Journey consists of the following:-(a) E-Journey
     You could do this at home as it is online and it shows some videos about Singapore from its history to its current policies (ie. CPF and etc). At the end of every section, there will be online tests to test us how well do we know Singapore.
(b) Singapore Experiential Tour
     It is a half day guided tour within Singapore to understand more about Singapore history. There are a lot of places to select from (i.e. Singapore museum, fort canning park and etc) and there are a lot of sessions to choose from. Just book the desired place and time via online and you will receive a confirmation email. It is an interesting activity to explore more areas in Singapore.
(c) Community Sharing Session
      It is few hours activity in allocated community centre. It is a time where the members and volunteers of community centres introduced themselves and showed us the activities in our neighbourhood. It is also a time for new applicants to get to know each other. For this session, you may also wish to book the desired date and time to attend.

3) Citizenship Approval Letter

Once you have completed the Singapore Citizenship Journey, you would be receiving a Citizenship Application letter by post. In this letter, you would be asked to formally renounce your Indonesian Citizenship at Indonesian Embassy located in Chatsworth road before the date of registration indicated in the letter (it is 1 month after the issuance of letter). You can always change the appointment date from online (i.e. up to 3 times).

Requirements which must be fulfilled to apply for Renunciation of Citizenship of the Republic of Indonesian are:-

(a) The applicant must make a declaration to renounce the Indonesian citizenship before the Notary Public at Singapore and to attach the following documents:-
      (i) Approval letter from the Singapore Immigration (ICA);
      (ii) Indonesian Passport;
      (iii) Indonesian Citizenship Certificate (SBKRI);
      (iv) Indonesian Birth Certificate (Akta Kelahiran);
      (v) Family Household Card (Kartu Keluarga);
      (vi) Indonesian NRIC (KTP); and
      (vii) Re-entry Permit (Form 7).

The cost of the Notarial fee is $150 from :
Tan, Lee & Choo Advocates & Solicitors 
1 Park Road #04-04 People's Park Complex, Singapore 059108
                            Tel: 65356077

(b) The Declaration drawn up by Notary Public must be legalised by:
 Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) 
1 Supreme Court Lane
 Singapore 178879
I have asked the Notary Public to assist me on this.
The cost of the Authentication Fee is $26.75 (Notary Public will give us a receipt from SAL).

(c) Collect an envelope at Notary Public after 3 working days.
(d) Bring the Legalised Statutory Declaration to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) for endorsement.

   The legalisation will be done on the spot and cost $10 pay either by NETS/Cashcard only.
Indonesia Citizenship Renunciation
 (e) The applicant must submit the above documents (with its originals) to the Consular Section (counter at the second floor on the right side after stair, no queue number needed) at the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore and to add the following documents:-
      (i) Marriage Certificate (Photocopy);
      (ii) Spouse's Singapore NRIC (Photocopy); and
      (ii) Applicant's Singapore NRIC (Photocopy).
You would be asked to sign one of the renunciation form after the stamp at the cost of $2 which will be paid on the spot. The Embassy would complete the documents within 5 working days. The cost of legalisation is $32 which will be paid on the first floor cashier. Submission time : Monday - Friday (09.00-12.00)

Singapore Citizenship Registration

(a) Once the above is done, bring the necessary documents (as stated in Citizenship Approval Letter) to ICA on the appointed date at 6th floor.
You would be a given a temporary IC slip with your photo attached to serve as your IC while waiting for the original IC to be issued.
(b) In about 1 week, you will receive a Passport Collection Notification Card. You may either collect your passport at a Singpost outlet at a nominal fee of $10 or collect personally at ICA by appointment.
(c) In few months time, you will receive a Letter to invite you to attend for Citizenship Ceremony in designated place. Here you will be receiving your original IC.


Hope the above helps and Good Luck!!!

Saturday, 26 September 2015

Bandung, Indonesia (3D2N)


On 26 September 2015, my hubby and i attended a wedding in Jakarta. We flew back to Jakarta because the groom is my hubby's friend cum ex-housemate and the bride is my friend. So can i say that my hubby and i were their cupids? hahaha...

Before we flew to Jakarta, we thought of having a short trip to Bandung. Bandung is a city which is only about 3-hours drive away from Jakarta. There is also a direct flight from Singapore to Bandung which makes our planning easier.

We asked our common friends and those who attended the wedding on whether they wanted to join the holiday and ta---daaaa...there were 5 of us, just nice for 1 car.

Flight
We took AirAsia direct flight from Singapore to Bandung. The whole journey took about 2 hours.

Hotel
For every trip, i always volunteer to book the hotel. Reason is because my hubby is allergy to dust. There was once that the hotel was dusty (not visible to eyes) and he woke up with a swollen eye and we went to see doctor immediately.
Hence i always tried to find a new hotel with a good cleanliness review.
This time, we decided to book M Premiere Hotel Dago in Bandung.

Review:
1) The hotel is not a big chain hotel, it is only 3 floors with a lift.
2) The hotel room was clean and spacious enough for us.
3) The free breakfast has limited choice and we did not like that people were smoking inside the lobby.

Transport
Indonesia is one of the country in which the public transport is not friendly for tourists. We do not have MRT like Singapore and our public buses do not cover most of the places. Hence we always rely on cars or taxis.

For our trip, we decided to hire driver for 2 full days on 24& 25 September and drive us to Jakarta on 26 September morning.

Food
1) Sundanese Food @ Warung Cepot
Majority of Bandung's population are of Sundanese descent, hence sundanese food is one of the local food in Bandung. Therefore we were looking for a place for Sundanese food and our driver recommended a place called Warung Cepot. 

Review: The food was average and the free flow soup was not hot enough.

2) Stone Cafe
One of the reason that Jakarta resident always go to Bandung is because of the cool climate in Bandung especially at night time.
We went to Stone Cafe which is located at higher altitude in Bandung and of course it has a nice cooling climate there. This place was recommended by our friend who stays in Bandung, We chose outdoor seating with a live band singing as the background.

Review: We did not try the food as we were full and hence we only tried the local drinks like bandrek (coconut sugar and ginger hot drink with bits of young coconut) and Wedang Jahe (boiling fresh ginger mixed with palm oil or sugar cubes). 


3) Tahu Susu Lembang
Another must tried food in Bandung is their tahu (fried tofu). We decided to try the Fried silky tofu as our snacks when we were on the way to Tangkuban Perahu.

Review: it has to be eaten hot. It is crispy outside and silky inside. It is good as a snack.

4) Miss Bee Providore
It is another place that is recommended by our friend who stay in Bandung. We met her to chill on our last day in Bandung.


Review: we did not try the food here so we just ordered drinks.


Places to visit
1) Tangkuban Perahu 
Please refer to http://www.indonesia-tourism.com/west-java/tangkuban-perahu.html for the details on the Tangkuban Perahu. Please note that the entrance ticket for locals and foreigners are different as it is cheaper for locals.



2) Dusun Bambu (Bamboo Village)
This place is very huge, it offers from accommodation,playground, camping ground, restaurants to an area for local dishes.






3) Factory Outlets
We went to a few factory outlets to shop some of the clothes. 

We did not take a lot of pictures on this trip as my hubby aka photographer was busy playing with her new toy (GoPro4) which he bought from Duty Free Online and collected it on the day of our departure from Singapore to Bandung.

You may look at the video of our trip found in Bandung Trip - GOPro. Please pardon the quality of the video as it was his first time using GoPro.