KUCHING: Stateless people who are without birth certificates and MyKad despite having been born in the state is a long outstanding problem.
This has resulted in many youths, who are entangled with the problem, to be not eligible for tertiary education. A case in point is a 19-year-old Wennie Liaw Tze Shyan as reported in the media March 4 (https://bit.ly/2ELVQpU).
One wonders why the issue of stateless people remains unresolved though the previous government had actually set up a special committee to resolve it.
The previous federal government was committed in resolving the problem. In fact, then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun and Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Datuk Masir Kujat had been specifically assigned to tackle the problem.
But, how far is the success of the special committee in resolving the issue? If it is successful then why does the problem still exist?
The government must take affirmative measures to resolve the problem once and for all.
Without proper documentations, the youths are deprived of the opportunity to pursue their tertiary education and getting a job.
Without the valid documentations they are no different from living as illegal immigrants in their own state. This would be grossly unfair to the affected youths.
Perhaps, one way to effectively resolve the problem is to deploy a special team to every nook and corner of the state, especially in rural areas.
The government cannot allow the problem to prolong as it would have serious implications to the affected students.
The effort would certainly require committed efforts and cooperation from the local and community leaders.
The government must not only be committed but honest in seeing the problem to be effectively resolved. – Sarawak Voice
