Bukit Assek rep praises Home Ministry for smooth handling of citizenship issues

SIBU: Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang gives her thumbs-up to the Home Ministry for making the procedure of granting citizenships much simpler and faster than it was before.

She believes that the ministry, under the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led federal government, ‘has heard and responded to the people’s call’.

“Hopefully, the backlog of pending cases could be cleared as soon as possible, and that the Home Ministry would approve and grant citizenships as fast as possible, so that the applicants would not need to live without ever having any identity at all,” she told reporters during a press conference yesterday.

Chang also said she went to Kapit recently to help look into the citizenship issues affecting the locals there.

“Almost all those who attended the forum that day were those who had already obtained their green ICs (Mykads).

“However, the locals there, mainly the Dayaks, were not happy with their MyKads at all, claiming that they could not do anything with it.

“Previously, they were able to take up menial work and apply for a driving licence, but all these have been disallowed over the past few years – those who used to drive even found themselves unable to renew their driving licences.”

Chang said this should not be the case as the purpose of a green MyKad is to provide the cardholders a temporary Malaysian resident status, which is to be renewed every five years.

Such validity, she said, should allow green MyKad holders to use it as a form of personal identification for the purpose of applying for certain jobs, for driving licences, and also to get married.

“Such situation is, therefore, not right for the green MyKad holders in Kapit,” she said, adding that she would write to the Immigration Department to check the legality and validity of the scenario in Kapit.

Furthermore, Chang said she would also contact the Home Ministry regarding the massive problem of statelessness in Kapit, where there are at least a few generations of families who are without any personal document.

According to her, the majority of those attending the forum in Kapit were from Rumah Long Singgut.

“I was told that beside this longhouse, other longhouses in Kapit were also facing the same problem.”

Chang said the Home Ministry would need to arrange for a special taskforce to tackle this situation.