Issuance of documents to stateless children should be monitored strictly
KOTA KINABALU: The issuance of documents to stateless children whose either parent is a Sabahan should be strictly monitored by the National Registration Department (NRD), enforcement agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to prevent power abuse and corruption, said Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Central Youth leader, Sim Fui.
Although the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Shafie Apdal has stressed humanitarian value as the basis of extending assistance to stateless children, Sim said the government must consider the deep, long-lasting repercussions stateless children had caused on the state.
“Of course, we should have compassion towards these children.
“That said, we hope the state government will make the interests and future of Sabahans as their primary considerations in this matter.
“For instance, the government must guarantee Sabahan children have a place in government schools,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Sim said it had been a longstanding wish of the people to see the government taking action on solving the social issues arising from being stateless, a result of transnational marriage between Sabahans and foreigners, be it Filipino, Indonesian or citizens from other countries.
“Sabahans hope that their interests will be the primary concern of the government before the legalization process for stateless children is implemented.”
Sim also has doubts about the procedure used to verify the citizenship of the parents of stateless children.
“Given that most of the parents come from rural villages, it will be difficult to determine whether they are genuine Sabahans or have a questionable background.
“I believe these will be the challenges in implementing the legalization process.”
On another note, Sim hoped the state government would formulate a law for transnational marriage to ensure children of such couples would not face the risk of being stateless.
“With legislation in place, we can prevent the issue of stateless children.”
Speaking to reporters at a parliamentary sitting in Kuala Lumpur recently, Shafie said assistance would be given to children of Sabahans who married foreigners to ensure their future was guaranteed. The chief minister has also denied allegations that the legalization process was an attempt by the government to issue identity cards to illegal immigrants.
Sim said the issuance of identification cards was under the jurisdiction of the federal government and that the state government could not intervene.
He said Shafie had also pointed out that the legalization process would be implemented by the federal government.
“But as the Chief Minister of Sabah, he must safeguard the rights and interests of Sabahans by monitoring the legalization exercise with the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and other organizations.”
“He also reminded the government that stateless children was a sensitive issue to Sabahans.
Hence, Sim said the officers appointed to execute the legalization process must also practice transparency.