PH: Increased penalty for late registration of birth exorbitant

KUCHING: The increase in fine from RM50 to RM1,000 for parents who fail to register their children within 60 days after their birth is exorbitant, and may increase the number of stateless children in the country.

Pakatan Harapan ( PH) Women’s wing secretary Teo Nie Ching, who is also Kulai MP, said the registration of births is no doubt very important but National Registration Department ( NRD) must first conduct a study to find out reasons behind the late registration.

“Was it ( because of) laziness, irresponsibility, illiteracy or poverty? If illiteracy and/or poverty are the reasons behind the late registration, imposing a higher penalty is not going to solve the problem,” she said in a press statement received here yesterday.

Teo was responding to Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed’s recent announcement in Kluang that parents who failed to register their children within 60 days after birth would be fined RM1,000 compared with only RM50 previously.

He later clarified that the increase was only applicable in Peninsular Malaysia and not in Sabah and Sarawak.

Teo said PH Women’s wing cares about the future of the children, and condemned those irresponsible parents who took lightly the duty to register them.

“What would happen to the children whose parents cannot afford to pay the RM1,000 fine? Will the registration be rejected completely and render these children stateless?”

She added that Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had revealed in November last year that there were 290,437 stateless children in Malaysia, below the age of 18.

“The figure is larger than the population of Perlis. We do not want to see more Malaysian children to join them.”

Meanwhile, Parti Keadilan Rakyat ( PKR) women chief Zuraida Kamaruddin said the fine increase was an additional burden, especially to the poor.

Furthermore, she said the NRD had no authority to enforce such penalty as it’s not gazetted in law.

“Is Nur Jazlan aware that our country’s minimum wage is only RM1,000 for Peninsular Malaysia and RM920 for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan?”

Zuraida, who is Ampang MP, pointed out that Births and Deaths Registration and Adoption Act 1957 (Act 299), and its amendments in A1524 did not specify the penalties imposed with regards to late registration in Section 12 of the Principal Act.

“Although the amendments were passed in Parliament last year, the references made to penalties are vague and cannot be imposed merely by words from a deputy home minister. This is a serious matter which must be debated in Parliament as it affects every Malaysian.

“Parliament is the only regulatory space where lawmakers agree or disagree for a policy to be carried out. As a parliamentarian, I would have failed in my duty if I did not strongly oppose to the brute manner which the Home Ministry is using to impose, burden and financially rob the rakyat of a constitutional right to register births without having to worry about heavy penalties.”

She said the NRD should instead educate, encourage and facilitate the public to make registration of births less cumbersome, adding that the inability to effectively register births was indicative of a failed system which must be overcome with good governance and not stiffer penalties.