KUCHING: A total of 708 applications for citizenship under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution were tabled in a meeting here yesterday, said Welfare, Community Well-being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah.
She added that the number of applications was since the formation of the state-level special committee on August 23, 2016, in line with the commitment given by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
“The citizenship applications under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution are the registration of Malaysian nationals below 21 years old.
“The problems are caused by marriages between foreign spouses (female/male) or having no supporting identification documents because the couple’s children are then considered as non-Malaysians.
“Hence, to avoid the problems, couples must register their marriages before the birth of their child which will make it easy to apply for their children to apply for citizenship.
“We do not want the people to consider this group as foreigners,” she told reporters at the press conference after chairing a meeting on the matter here, yesterday.
She also stressed that it was everyone responsibility to ensure that whenever someone gives birth, the parents must register their marriage.
