Legislation On Chinese Indonesians - Presidential Regulation 10 of 1959

Presidential Regulation 10 of 1959

Presidential Regulation 10 of 1959 (Indonesian: Peraturan Presiden Nomor 10 tahun 1959) was a law directive issued by Indonesian government and signed by Minister of Trade, Rachmat Mujomisero. The law prohibited foreign nationals from doing retail business outside urban areas (including rural areas) and required them to transfer their businesses to Indonesian nationals by 1 January 1960 or relocate to urban areas. This directive was approved by former President Sukarno. The rule became controversial since its implementation resulting in several people being killed in West Java (also known as racial riot of Cibadak) and triggered a huge exodus of Chinese Indonesians back to China. Although the regulation merely mentioned that only "foreign citizens" were required to do the relocation and closure of business, the law affected many Chinese nationals and Chinese Indonesians. From the 86,690 foreign business retailer listed, about 90 percent of these were Chinese.