Bukit Assek rep wants legally adopted children given citizenship
SIBU: Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang calls on the federal government to grant citizenship to children who were legally adopted by their Malaysian parents.
In a press statement yesterday, she said she had written to the Home Ministry on May 25 on this issue.
She said she had also met Zamari Mohd Ramli of the Home Ministry secretary’s office on the same day.
“The meeting was in Putrajaya. I was there with the political secretary to the Minister of Human Resources Cheong Chee Khing. We had a good discussion; it lasted for one and half hours.”
She said she had brought many deserving cases to them which were unfortunately categorised as stateless due to improper documentations.
“For instance, we came across cases where individuals became stateless because they were born overseas.
“Because their birth was not registered within 12 months with the Malaysian embassy in that country, these people would discover that when they come back to Malaysia, they would be denied citizenship because Malaysia has no record of their birth.”
She said she also discussed the issue of many children who were legally adopted by Malaysian parents being denied citizenship.
During the discussion with the ministry, she said she also handed in a list of the names of the applicants, the cases of which were still pending.
“Zamari informed me the Home Ministry is currently reviewing applications dating back to 2014, and there are still 53,000 applications from all over Malaysia on his desk.”
That being the case, she urged those who had applied before 2014 and had not heard from the ministry to follow up their cases.
If rejected, she said they had to make fresh applications.
“These applicants must ensure that their fresh applications are correctly made with relevant supporting documents.”
She said applications that were incorrect or incomplete would be rejected.
“There are many applications with me that need to be submitted. They have not been submitted because of incomplete supporting documentations which we have requested but have not been given to us.”
She said she would be following up on these cases that were with her.