By Nur Ashikin Louis & Lee Shaw Wei
KUCHING: Thirty-one Sarawakians were presented citizenship approval letters and citizenship certificates at Kuching UTC here.
Of the 10 certificates presented yesterday, one was for the application of citizenship under Article 15(1) of the Federal Constitution, six under Article 15A and three under Article 19.
Meanwhile, of the 21 approval letters, five were under Article 15(1), 15 under Article 15A and one under Article 19.
The letters and certificates were presented by Home Affairs Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Amongst those present were Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Deputy Minister and Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Chong Chieng Jen, Home Affairs Ministry secretary-general Datuk Alwi Ibrahim and National Registration Department (JPN) director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh.
Muhyiddin said his ministry would conduct a re-study of the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the application of Malaysian citizenship to ensure all applicants get equal consideration.
“The study will give extra attention to children welfare and the improvement on the process of citizenship application period, which will be shorten from three years to one,” he said.
“At the same time, we will make sure that the status of citizenship will only be given to individuals who are truly qualified.”
At the event, Angeline Sinyang, 44, expressed her delight for the citizenship approval letter for her four-year-old son Aden Sajat.
“I’m very happy to finally be able to receive the approval letter after waiting for four years.
“I feel like this is a belated birthday present for me since my birthday was yesterday (July 28).
“Aden was born in Johor and since he does not have citizenship, he could not leave Sarawak and it was a hassle in the last four years,” she added.
Meanwhile, Lim Sian Chung, 26, said that he only found out about himself not having the official identification card (IC) when he tried to renew it.
“I only managed to receive the MyKad (Green IC) back then due to insufficient personal information submitted by my parents.
“I could not travel out of the country all these years and even if I wanted to travel to Peninsular Malaysia, I had to apply a month beforehand.
“It was tough for me to open bank accounts as well,” he elaborated.
When asked about the very first thing that he would like to do after receiving the approval letter, he said that he would like to travel.
“I have always wanted to travel all these years, and out of all the countries in my bucket list, I would like to go to China first and foremost.”
