KUCHING, July 30 — The Sarawak government should decide on citizenship applications originating from the state, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian suggested today.
He argued that the state’s autonomy over its immigration matters should also grant it the authority to decide such matters.
“The question as to who in the state qualifies to be a Malaysian citizenship must rest with the Sarawak government because it has autonomy over immigration including the issue of residency which is not negotiable,” he said.
Dr Sim, who is also the state local government and housing minister, was responding to the discontinuing of the Sarawak special committee on citizenship announced by Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday.
According to Muhyiddin, the committee was redundant as the Home Ministry has set up a special taskforce to handle citizenship issues across the country.
The federal minister also pointed out that the granting of citizenship was federal government’s responsibility rather than any state government.
The Sarawak special committee was formed in 2016 to receive and process applications originating from the state before submitting them for approval by the home minister.
Dr Sim expressed his disappointment with the Home Ministry’s decision to replace the special committee with the special taskforce.
He said it is an act of centralising power in the federal government, which should delegate it to the states where there are special circumstances.
“SUPP seeks the federal government to honour its obligation and give the authority to Sarawak government when it comes to application for citizenship from residents of Sarawak,” Dr Sim said.
He claimed Putrajaya has no knowledge of the conditions in Sarawak, suggesting that the federal government should be confined to administrative actions of processing citizenship applications that have been approved by Sarawak government.
“The issue of citizenship is a fundamental one. It affects the core of what a country is and has a huge impact in the applicant,” he said, adding that there are many residents of Sarawak who are caught out from becoming citizens.
“Many of them were or still are children whose parents or one of the parents have issues proving their Malaysian citizenship
“There are also many cases where one of the parents do not have proper paperwork to register their children due to the remoteness of their longhouses and villages from the towns,” he said.
He said many, who live in the remote parts of the state, are also ignorant on the importance of registering the birth of their children.
