NRD TO HELP STATELESS KIDS ATTEND SCHOOL

Eligible children to get documentation from agency, says Zahid

ELIGIBLE stateless children will be given documentation by the National Registration Department (NRD) to enable them to attend school.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said these children were victims of their parents’ (lack of) marriage registration.

“Don’t blame the department. The department is fair and has taken a proactive approach.

“All eligible children will get documentation as soon as possible so that they can go to school,” he said at a “Turun Padang” programme organised by NRD here yesterday.

Zahid denied that there were 200,000 stateless children in the country, saying that checks showed that there were only 2,500.

He urged the department to work with all parties, including non-governmental organisations, to speed up the process of registering these children.

He said he had empowered state Education directors to cooperate with the parties involved in efforts to speed up the process.

Earlier this week, the New Straits Times Press had reported that the Kedah government would initiate an amnesty programme for couples who married abroad, but had yet to register in the country.

This is to resolve the problem of stateless children in the state, who are not recognised as citizens due to their parents’ unregistered marriage.

PIC BY DANIAL SAAD Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi presenting a MyKad to a recipient at the ‘Turun Padang’ programme in Kepala Batas, Penang, yesterday. With him are state Umno liaison committee chairman Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Osman (second from...