‘Claims of 300,000 stateless Indians untrue’

KUANTAN: Only 12,000 from the Indian community have applied for identification documents under the MyDaftar programme since 2012.

This runs contrary to claims by the opposition that there are about 300,000 “stateless” Indians in the country.

National Registration Department (NRD) director-general Datuk Mohd Yazid Ramli said almost 7,000 of the applications had been approved, while the rest were being processed.

“Some quarters had claimed that almost 300,000 people did not have identification documents.

“But since 2012, the programme only saw around 12,000 applications. For this month, NRD is handling 1,800 new applications.

“We will scrutinise all applications and ensure applicants have the supporting documents, before we can process and issue identification documents to qualified individuals,” he said at the NRD office here yesterday.

Mohd Yazid said that the implementation of the Mega MyDaftar campaign since June 5 saw a total of 1,813 people turning up at the NRD offices nationwide to apply.

He said out of that number, only 277 applications were complete, 518 were incomplete while 1,018 individuals came seeking clarification on the process.

Meanwhile, Special Implementation Taskforce on Indian Community (SITF) manager G.K. Anandan said the government should not be blamed over the issue of “stateless” Indians.

“People should realise the importance of identification documents.

“We are here to help, so make an effort to do the necessary.

An applicant, A. Ganesan, from Panching here, hoped he would be able to secure a birth certificate for his 3-year-old son, Baskaran, based on documents provided by the hospital where he was born.