DUDONG assemblyman Datuk Tiong Thai King urged the state government to help stateless children in Sarawak using powers conferred on it by the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“Statelessness has plagued Malaysians for years, especially in Sabah and Sarawak.
“Many applications for citizenship by stateless Sarawakian children had either been rejected or were not acted upon over the years,” he said when participating in the debate on the Supply (2020) Bill, 2019 yesterday.
Tiong stressed that the state must direct its efforts at resolving the plight of these stateless children.
“Understandably, no parents want their children to have non-citizen status. Circumstances have forced them to experience this situation. In fact, these stateless children lead normal lives with good behaviour.”
He lamented Pakatan Harapan federal government’s lack of commitment to resolve the issue by not recognising local born people as citizens.
“On this note, the approach of the Home Ministry to the problem is irresponsible and contrary to the Federal Constitution.
“Why is the Home Ministry bent on wrongly interpreting the Constitution to the prejudice and disadvantage of guiltless children and rendering them stateless?” he asked.
Tiong is of the view that to adopt the course suggested by the Home Ministry would punish innocent children simply for (among other things) being illegitimate, which is unjust and inhuman.
“In a democracy based on the rule of law, all citizens must be treated equally before the law and by extension of that precept their children ought to be recognised as citizens regardless of the gender of the parent or parents.
“If Malaysia does not reform its laws, it would be left behind as more and more countries move to eliminate gender discrimination in their nationality laws.”
He lauded the Sarawak government’s role in forming a special taskforce to get stateless children recognized as Malaysian citizens.
“However, some applications approved by the Sarawak government are held or even rejected by our federal government. Hence, it is timely that we should fight for Sarawak to have its own authority to grant citizenships to our
stateless children.
“It is our hope that the Home Ministry would exercise good judgement in reaching a sensible decision, which would allow these individuals to live their lives like any other citizens.”
Tiong hoped that Pakatan Harapan would take serious actions to grant citizenship to all the stateless children and form a consensus in addressing the issue.
