Not right to call anyone stateless, says Masir
SIBU: It is not appropriate to call anyone ‘stateless’ because a child’s citizenship is determined by his or her parents’ nationalities, according to Deputy Home Minister Datuk Masir Kujat.
The Sri Aman MP was responding to a statement on the issue by Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang on Sept 30.
Masir explained that the term ‘stateless’ generally refers to a person who has no nationality.
“Based on the term, it is supposed that in Malaysia no one is ‘stateless’. It has to be noted here that every child has mother and father. And mother or father of the child has certain nationality.
“In this situation, if the child is registered as a non- citizen, it is the responsibility of both parents of the child to manage identification documents and travel documents with the country of origin of the child’s mother.
“The reason why most of those children born in Malaysia cannot have their nationality ascertained is because of no identification documents for their mothers and fathers or the children were abandoned after birth,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
In her recent statement, Chang called on the Home Ministry and National Registration Department (NRD) to undertake the documentation of ‘stateless children’ with utmost urgency, pointing out that the law needed urgent amendments to make it absolute for the ministry to give its grounds of rejection of documentation applications.
“For the record, the award of Malaysian citizenship to noncitizen status individuals is the highest award and exclusive right of the federal government that is not offered and rendered arbitrarily.
“In considering the application for Malaysian citizenship – the burden of proof for eligibility to be awarded Malaysian citizenship is under the responsibility of each applicant and consideration process subject to conditions stipulated under Section III of the Federal Constitution.
“In this connection, the question does not arise on the approval period for certain application and reasons of rejection as voiced out by the ADUN (state assemblyperson),” Masir said.
As such, he said every birth in Malaysia needed to be registered with the NRD in accordance with laws such as Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957 (Act 299) for the Peninsula; Registration of Births and Deaths Ordinance ( Sabah Cap. 123) for Sabah and Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance 1951 (Sarawak Cap.10) for Sarawak.