KUCHING: A special taskforce has been formed to resolve issues related to undocumented people in Sarawak who do not have birth certificates, identification papers or MyKads.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the main taskforce will be co-chaired by him and Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“During a courtesy call on the Premier earlier, we discussed and agreed to it and where the Sarawak government will provide logistic support for us to reach out to the undocumented villagers.
“If we need a helicopter or four-wheel drive vehicles, the Sarawak government will provide the transportation, to ensure we can reach out to the undocumented people in the remote areas.
“We can’t expect or wait for them to come (to the office),” he said during a press conference after the handing over of citizenship approval letters for 62 Sarawakians at Wisma Bapa here today.
Saifuddin said the taskforce could be formed promptly due to the database in Sarawak available at the Department of the Premier of Sarawak.
The Sarawak government, he said, has identified 3,756 undocumented individuals, where they do not have any documents.
Meanwhile, there are 9,314 cases due to other reasons, such as they do have birth certificates but without MyKads, status issues as well as those holding green ICs (temporary resident).
“The main committee (co-chaired by Abang Johari and I) will decide on the mechanisms (including the procedures) before handing over to the technical committee, which consist of officers from my ministry as well as the Sarawak State Secretary,” he said.
“We will kick-off with these (identified) cases first since the Sarawak government has all the information, including where these people are located,” he explained.
Saifuddin said the number is expected to increase as it is a dynamic issue; nevertheless, his ministry is committed to resolving all the cases.
He said the special taskforce is formed to focus on undocumented cases, whereby the issue of stateless children will remain under the taskforce led by Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah.
“For cases under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution, where children in Sarawak who are without citizenship status or identification documents, we will leave it to Fatimah’s taskforce,” he said.
Meanwhile, Fatimah said some of the undocumented cases in Sarawak involved a few generations.
For instance, she said, there are cases where a mother or a father do not have any form of identification papers to denote they are citizens, and this problem later affect their children as well.
“So, some of the undocumented cases are actually related as it involves the same family,” she added.
