PH: Increased penalty for late registration of birth exorbitant

KUCHING: The increase in fine from RM50 to RM1,000 for parents who fail to register their children within 60 days after their birth is exorbitant, and may increase the number of stateless children in the country.

Pakatan Harapan (PH) Women’s wing secretary Teo Nie Ching, who is also Kulai MP, said the registration of births is no doubt very important but the National Registration Department (NRD) must first conduct a study to find the out reasons behind the late registration.

“Was it (because of) laziness, irresponsibility, illiteracy or poverty? If illiteracy and/or poverty are the reasons behind the late registration, imposing a higher penalty is not going to solve the problem,” she said in a press statement received here yesterday.

Teo was responding to Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed’s recent announcement in Kluang that parents who failed to register their children within 60 days after birth would be fined RM1,000 compared with only RM50 previously.

He later clarified that the increase was only applicable in Peninsular Malaysia and not in Sabah and Sarawak.

Teo said PH Women’s wing cares about the future of the children, and condemned those irresponsible parents who took lightly the duty to register them.

“What would happen to the children whose parents cannot afford to pay the RM1,000-fine? Will the registration be rejected completely and render these children stateless?”

She added that Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had revealed in November last year that there were 290,437 stateless children in Malaysia, below the age of 18.

“The figure is larger than the population of Perlis. We do not want to see more Malaysian children to join them.”

Meanwhile, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) women chief Zuraida Kamaruddin said the fine increase was an additional burden, especially to the poor.