May 10 2007

Ninth Circuit Decides Lolong Case; Other Indonesian Asylum Cases Still Have Chance of Winning

Earlier this week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied the petition for review in Lolong v. Gonzales. The petitioner, Majorie Konda Lolong, is an ethnic Chinese Christian citizen of Indonesia. The Ninth Circuit stated that it denied Lolong’s asylum application because she did not show any personal discrimination, harassment or violence in Indonesia based on her Chinese ethnicity or her Christian faith. Because of this ruling, the court’s decision in Sael v. Ashcroft remains the law. In that case, Ms. Sael was able to show that she suffered discrimination, harassment and threats of violence in Indonesia because of her Chinese ethnicity, which is a quite common situation in that country.