KUCHING: The protracted time taken to approve applications for citizenship is taking a toll on the basic rights of stateless children in Sarawak.
Women, Early Childhood and Community Well-being Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah in stressing this, said this includes depriving them of their right to having proper education, healthcare and welfare assistance.
“I hope that the Home Minister (Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin) would open his heart to the cases that have been deliberated and supported by our special committee on citizenship and have been brought to his attention for final approval.
“The approval time takes too many heartbreaking, distressing, frustrating years of deprivation and lost opportunities for education, healthcare, welfare and general wellbeing of the stateless children,” she asserted in a statement issued today.
Fatimah explained that the Education Ministry (MoE) had insisted on stateless children applying for a Student Pass from the Immigration Department to first apply for a passport before they can be allowed to study in government schools.
“The hassle they have to go through to fulfil the requirement from the National Registration Department (NRD), the Immigration Department and the Education Department – the finance incurred – and yet, at the end of the day, the answer to their application for education is not in their favour.
“All this while they are deprived of their basic rights to education, employment and facing a bleak future in their birthplace,” she stressed.
In April last year, the federal government approved the state’s application to reinstate the Sarawak Special Committee on Citizenship to help stateless children apply for citizenship.
This special committee under Fatimah’s ministry was previously formed in 2016 for the same purpose but came to a halt in 2019 after Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over the federal government.
