‘Expedite granting citizenship to stateless S’wakian children’

KUCHING: Batu Kitang assemblyman Lo Khere Chiang is calling upon the federal government – the Home Ministry in particular – to speed up the process of granting citizenship to stateless Sarawakian children.

He claimed that many such applications from Sarawakians had either been rejected or were not acted upon over the years.

“Some parents had come to see me personally to seek for help, after their applications for their children’s citizenship were either rejected a few times or were left unanswered by the National Registration Department (NRD),” he said during a press conference yesterday.

With him were four stateless children, whom Lo said possessed birth certificates but not Malaysian citizenship.

He said one of the children – 19year- old Winnie Liaw Tze Shyan – had her citizenship withdrawn after the NRD found that the parents had not registered their marriage upon her birth.

“Her parents had applied for her citizenship twice, but were rejected. Winnie’s youngersiblings, however, are all Malaysian citizens.

“Now, if the other siblings have gotten their citizenship, what is stopping Winnie from getting hers? After all, they are children of the same couple,” said Lo.

Winnie, who is of SarawakianIndonesian parentage, possesses permanent resident (PR) status.

She expressed her hope of obtaining a Mykad so that she could find work and support her parents, who are both disabled.

Lo said another case involved 10year- old boy Liew Ye Siong, who was adopted by a local couple upon his birth.

However, he said Ye Siong’s adoptive father later passed away while his adoptive mother became disabled following a stroke.

“According to his adoptive father’s sister, the NRD had refused to approve Ye Siong’s application for citizenship simply because the adoption certificate issued by the district officer did not mention his biological parents.

“But the letter of adoption clearly mentioned that the deceased, Liew Shau Ban, was legally the adoptive father.”

The third case, noted Lo, involved the 10-year- old daughter of a Bidayuh single mother named Selly Dewel, whose father was a Sarawakian and mother an Indonesian.

He said at the time when Selly gave birth to her daughter Elisya, the former did not have a Mykad and only managed to get it in 2010.

“She then applied for her daughter’s citizenship but also failed to get it,” he said.

The fourth case involved Chin Hood Sing, a Sarawakian married to an Indonesian woman, whose application for his daughter’s citizenship was twice rejected by the NRD.

According to Lo, the reason given by the Home Ministry was that the child, Connie Chin Ke Xing, was born before her parents had legally registered their marriage.

“That was 12 years ago and since they have registered their marriage and permanently reside here, there should not be any problem in issuing the child’s citizenship,” he argued, adding there were many other similar cases affecting Sarawakian children.

Lo lamented that this problem had been going on for so many years, even during the previous federal administration, and said the Sarawak government had been doing its best by forming a special taskforce to help stateless children be recognized as Malaysian citizens.

He hoped the Home Ministry would exercise good judgment in reaching a sensible decision, which would allow these individuals to live their lives like any other citizens.