KUCHING: Starting January next year, details of adoptive parents and biological parents would be included in the Second Schedule Extract from the Central Register Record of Birth Sarawak of the Adoption (Central Registry) Regulations 1960, the State Assembly sitting was told, today.
State Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said the request to include the details was raised by Bukit Assek State Assemblyman Irene Chang during the last session of the state assembly sitting.
“As a caring government, the Sarawak State Cabinet on July 11 had approved this amendment (to the Adoption Ordinance 1958),” she said in her state’s Supply 2020 Bill winding up speech here, today.
Currently, the second schedule did not include those details.
Fatimah said the Cabinet however had decided not to approve another request by Irene to raise the current age limit of adoption from 18 to 21 years old.
“This is because Section 10 of the Adoption Ordinance (1958 Edition) (Cap.91) provides the power to the State Executive Council to make rules to regulate adult adoption, should the customs allow it. The Ministry through collaboration with the relevant government agencies and stakeholders, will come up with the rules,” she said.
On a separate matter, she said all five Tadika Komuniti Penan in Long Leng, Long Kawa, Long Kerangan, Long Jenalong and Ba Selulong which were built through Petronas Corporate Social Responsibility had been completed and would be managed by SeDidik Sdn Bhd from 2020.
This she said was among the efforts by the state government to add access to early education particularly in the rural area, and to ensure 100 per cent access to early education statewide.
“Information from the State Education Department, Sarawak for 2019, showed that 40,015 (97.41 per cent) from the 41,078 children in Year 1 in government and private schools had received early child education,” she said.
On the proposal for the state government to take over the management of all Kemas kindergarten in the state as raised by a state assemblyman, she said the ministry needed to conduct a thorough study first as the kindergarten was under the Federal Government. – Bernama
