KUCHING: Sarawak seeks to reinstate both the Special Committee on Citizenship under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution and a Special Task Force to resolve the issue of stateless children and natives with no identification documents.
Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development (KWKPK) Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said the ministry would submit an application to Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) to give special consideration on the matter.
“KWKPK initially planned to meet with the MoHA minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin to deliberate on the matter, but that had to be delayed in view of Covid-19 pandemic.
“Thus, the ministry will instead forward a letter to MoHA first and list out the rationales and the reasons why we feel there is a need for the special committee and the special task force to be revived,” she said.
She was speaking at a press conference after chairing Sarawak’s Special Committee on Citizenship under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution at Baitul Makmur building here today.
The special committee was set up on Aug 23, 2016 by the state government to expedite the process of citizenship applications in order to address the issue of stateless persons in Sarawak.
However, the committee was discontinued in July last year by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government as the Home Ministry at the time had announced that it had a new standard operating procedure (SOP) which would be able to solve the application process within a year.
Meanwhile, the special task force was set up in 2015 and previously headed by Fatimah. This task force obtains statutory declaration from head of communities such as ketua kaum and penghulu to verify that the applicant was born and reside in their areas to enable the application to be approved on the spot.
“We (KWKPK) will continue to apply for the special committee and the task force to be reinstated as we deemed them as very important especially amidst Covid-19 situation,” she added.
Fatimah further stressed that every child has a right to nationality and that the ministry would pursue this matter actively.
“If not, the stateless children will get into trouble when it comes to their right to obtain education, processes to get assistance and what’s worse is that, a child may feel isolated and become a subject of bullying among his or her peers,” she highlighted.
Elaborating on factors contributing to the issue of stateless children, Fatimah said one of them was due to incomplete applications by the guardian especially in the adoption process.
“Other factors include inorganised marriages, premarital birth and cohabitation without marriage registration,” she pointed out.
Also present during the meeting were ministry permanent secretary Dr Saadiah Abdul Samat, KWKPK law officer Masni Julaihi, Sarawak Social Welfare Department children protection branch chief Rohana Ismawi, Sarawak National Registration Department assistant director (Operations) Ramzi Ibrahim and Rumah Kanak-Kanak Kuching deputy principal Mohd NorAzman.
