‘Addressing identification document issues among focus of Social Devt Council’

KUCHING: A total of 676 applications for Temporary Documents for Stateless Individuals in Sarawak (DSITKS) were submitted from 34 districts across the state between Nov 1, 2022 and Feb 5 this year, disclosed Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.

The Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Minister said 211 or 31.2 per cent of the applications met the necessary requirements, while 465 applications or 68.8 per cent did not fulfil the specified conditions.

“A total of 207 applications or 30.6 per cent of the total met the criteria and had been approved by the Sarawak Premier’s Department.

“Additionally, four or 0.4 per cent of the applications are still in the approval process,” she said during the first state Social Development Council (SDC) meeting for 2024 at Wisma Bapa Malaysia yesterday.

During the meeting, Fatimah said that addressing identification document issues, including citizenship applications under Article 15A, has always been among the focused efforts of the SDC, which is also under her ministry.

“To facilitate this process, the Sarawak State Special Committee on Citizenship Status (JKKSK) has been set up to assess and assist citizenship applications under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution, particularly for individuals under the age of 21,” she said.

Statistics Citizenship Applications by Registration under Article 15A of Special Circumstances from 2018 to 2023 thus indicate the ongoing efforts in this regard.

In 2018, there were 476 applications with 262 in process, while in 2019, 296 applications were received with 101 in process and the figures for subsequent years show the continued engagement in addressing citizenship status concerns.

“In 2020 there were 86 applications and 22 in process; in 2021 there were 63 applications and 16 in process; in 2022 there were 174 applications and 139 in process and in 2023 there were 308 applications and 286 in process,” she said.

Furthermore, Fatimah also said that her ministry currently operates the Sow People’s Love Programme (Program Menyemai Kasih Rakyat - Mekar), which includes providing identity document registration services for eligible individuals in rural areas through mobile services.

Apart from discussing actions to deal with the issue of indigenous identity documents and applications for citizenship in Sarawak and the DSITKS production report, the meeting also discussed other matters.

They include matters such as the MPS achievement report for 2023 and planning for the implementation of MPS programmes and interventions for 2024 and the approval of the development of Integrated Social Issues Case Management System (ISICMS).