Sarawak Pakatan wants to help stateless kids get Malaysian citizenship

KUCHING, Feb 12 — Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) is working closely with the Home Affairs Ministry to address issues relating to stateless children in the state, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said today.

He said there is a need to work out a more effective policy and standard operating procedure (SOP) when these stateless children apply for Malaysian citizenship. 

“There is a need to make the application process more transparent so that the applicants will be informed on the reasoning when a rejection is given,” he told reporters.

Yii said this was important so the applicants will know how to proceed next and prepare better for the next application.

“Currently, once a rejection notice is served, there is no reasoning given for all the rejections, and this have caused much confusion and inconvenience for the applicants, especially if they were to re-apply,” he said.

Yii said a delegation from Sarawak PH met with Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently, explaining to him the problems faced by stateless children in Sarawak applying for Malaysian citizenship.

He said the minister has given a positive response and assured him that the ministry is working towards addressing these issues.

“The ministry will be arranging further engagements and meetings with us and all the different stakeholders including the relevant departments to find a way to properly address this issue while also addressing the concerns some may have over the whole citizenship application process,” he said.

Yii said a task force has already been set up in Sarawak, but results have been less than encouraging and the issue still continued to persist.

“That is why we are pushing for a greater urgency and a better SOP to not just make it more convenient for the public to apply if they have a legitimate reason to do so, but also to lessen the processing time of the application,” he said.

Yii said the delegation also discussed with the minister on drug abuse among youths in Sarawak.

He said there was a need to come down hard and tackle the issue of drugs that was getting more and more rampant, not just in Sarawak.

“This problem is not just affecting adults, but more and more young people, even school children are now getting involved in this bad habit,” he said.

The DAP lawmaker added that the delegation highlighted a few “hotspots” all around Sarawak and the need for the police to take a more holistic approach in tackling this menace.

Yii said it was revealed recently that Sarawak recorded the highest number of secondary school students who tested positive for drugs in the country as at October 2018.

“There has been a growing trend leaning towards the use of methamphetamine, which accounted for 61 per cent of those who tested positive for the substance,” he said.