Ministry processing 3,377 citizenship applications from Sarawak
MIRI: The Home Ministry ( KDN) is currently processing 3,377 citizenship applications from Sarawak.
In a reply to Senator Alan Ling, the ministry said it is processing all citizenship applications in stages in line with provisions under the Federal Constitution.
The ministry said from 2013 to Nov 15, 2018, there were 75,653 citizenship applications nationwide under Article 15 ( 2), Article 15 (A), and Article 19 of the Federal Constitution.
Ling, who is also Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak secretary, called on the PH federal government to resolve the issue regarding the application of the law, which is more efficient and transparent without bureaucratic red tape.
“After May 9, 2018, many have come to see me and my friends because we have become the government in the federal. So it is my desire to get this attention and a solution in our term to rule of this five-year period,” he said yesterday.
“I also raised this issue while participating in the 11th Malaysia Plan semi-term discussion debate yesterday, by calling on the KDN to be more concerned about the applications made because the processing time is usually very long lasting years without a decision.”
During his debate in the Dewan Negara, Ling said for those who did not have citizenship status, the waiting time for an answer is “mental torture”.
He said those who do not have official documents are not free to move around in their own country, adding it was hard for them to find work.
Ling cited the example of an applicant who was asked to reapply after two years of waiting without being given a reason as to why his application was rejected.
“These bureaucratic redresses are inconvenient to the applicants and their family members because any supporting documents and the requested details have already been submitted in the first application and all are already in the KDN information system.
“The action of the department’s staff to request the applicant to reapply with all the documents is a recurring action that wastes the time and resources of the applicant, especially if they come from rural areas,” he added.
The Democratic Action Party Sarawak secretary also reminded the PH federal government not to be indifferent to the issue, which could lead to applications being passed over.
He said this is because many applicants have been waiting from their childhood to adulthood for approval, with some of them now despairing.
Ling called for the consideration procedure to be more transparent and its criteria to be made clear to the applicant as to why the application was rejected.
“Hence, I humbly want to propose to the KDN to empower the officers in the recollection of Sabah and Sarawak in the process of consideration so that those who know the local situation can give recommendations and opinions to enable approval,” he added.