KUCHING: The Ministry of Women, Early Childhood and Community Well-being Development (KPWK) is committed to help the Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN) in identifying the 100 recipients of notification letters on citizenship status involving applicants in the state.
According to its Minister, Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said that the number of letters are still left unclaimed.
Fatimah also said she had identified the problems which include moving of address used during the application, change of applicant’s contact number, changes in name of the village or longhouse, no access to postal or courier services due to geographical issues and the applicants simply not being able to afford to go to the Ministry of Home Affairs in Putrajaya to obtain the documents due to financial constraints.
‘’Therefore, I am called to ensure that children who have been approved with the citizenship awarded by the Ministry of Home Affairs are informed and obtain their documents at the nearest National Registration Department (JPN),’’ she said at a press conference after a meeting with the JPN concerning the letters, yesterday.
Fatimah said the issue of citizenship and identity documents is one of the main social issues given focus by the Ministry through the Social Development Council.
“Social issues such as the problem of identity documents are very complicated and complex to deal with individually. Thus, collaboration, cooperation and strategic coordination among the members present, regardless of state or federal government agencies; private institutions; NGO; and leadership at the grassroots level is very much needed for the well-being of the community in Sarawak,” she said.
According to the statistics provided by KDN, there are 100 applicants who have not received their notification letter and it involves 12 divisions and 28 administrative districts in the state.
Fatimah also disclosed during yesterday’s meeting that the parties involved also helped to compile a more orderly list of names given by the Home Ministry.
“This is the first step we have taken to organise the list in an orderly manner which includes the information of the owners of the notification letter, including their name, address, identifying them in which district and so on,” she said.
Explaining further, Fatimah said such an effort was made because she wanted to help facilitate matters because it would incur cost if the owner of the letter were to go to Putrajaya to obtain the letter.
“After we manage to track them down, the individuals involved will fill in a form that has been set by the Home Ministry to state where the NRD is closest to them for the letter claim.
“This is what we are trying to do to help track them down and thus facilitate or speed up the process of applying for citizenship status,” she said.
In a related matter, Fatimah also informed that if the application takes a very long time, there is no denying that it affects a person’s education and the opportunity for them to get a job.
“Such things are also what caused the Sarawak Government to come up with an initiative to issue temporary documents so that stateless individuals (21 years and under) can have to access education and health facilities,” she said.
