Arcandra Tahar

Not long after being appointed Minister, there was a rumour that Tahar had become a citizen of the United States in March 2012. Because Indonesia does not recognize dual nationality, this meant that Tahar would have lost his Indonesian nationality.^[11] However, according to Tahar, he entered Indonesia using an Indonesian passport valid until 2017.^[12]

On 12 August 2016, the U.S. embassy in Jakarta issued him with a Certificate of Loss of Nationality, which was endorsed by the Department of State on 15 August 2016 (his name appears on the Quarterly Publication of Individuals Who Have Chosen to Expatriate).^[13][14] This meant that Tahar had relinquished his U.S. citizenship. That same day, Tahar was removed by President Joko Widodo and replaced by Luhut Pandjaitan.^[15]

On 30 August 2016, the U.S. embassy wrote a letter on Tahar's behalf, confirming his loss of U.S. nationality. As Tahar was no longer a U.S. citizen, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights under Yasonna Laoly ceased loss-of-nationality proceedings against him to prevent his statelessness and granted him a certificate of retention of citizenship on 1 September 2016. This made him once again eligible for Indonesian government appointments.^[16]

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  Tahar's Indonesian passport.
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  Tahar's US passport.
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  Tahar's Indonesian certificate of retention of citizenship.

On 14 October 2016, Tahar was officially sworn in as Deputy Minister under Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan.^[17]