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KUCHING, Sept 20: With one native parent, native status should be automatically accorded to children of mix marriages instead of having to apply for it, where the administrative requirements may cause consternation.
This is the view of Sarawak activist, Peter John Jaban who is questioning the continuing requirement for children of mixed marriages to ‘apply’ for native status following the Interpretation (Amendment) Ordinance 2022.
While appreciating the overall direction of the legislation, he is among many Sarawakians who predict that this will become an unnecessary obstacle in the recognition of this status and the provision of native land titles.
“With one native parent, these children are native by birth and the various agencies should be recognising this automatically. For years, mixed children and their native parents have been put in the insulting position of justifying their belonging in their own community to a panel of ‘experts’.
“I have heard stories of natives, raised in their ancestral villages, being ‘tested’ on their language skills and on their knowledge of the customs. All so that a group of strangers can decide if their children are worthy of native status. We had all hoped that this would come to an end,” said Peter John in a statement.
He said the requirement to ‘apply’ could prove to be problematic in many ways.
First, the fee could be punitive for impoverished or marginalised community members. Second, it continues to suggest that there is some kind of continuing assessment by the District Office and other government agencies.
“No details have emerged yet as to what this ‘application process’ entails and requires. We do not want to see a repeat of the statelessness issue in which genuine natives under this new legislation remain in limbo.”
“Even worse, we all fear that this kind of administrative requirement will lead to administrative backlog, as it has done in so many cases before. The various agencies need to commit to processing the applications without delay, otherwise there will be no change on the ground as natives wait years, even decades, before their cases are heard.”
He further pointed out that this is reminiscent of the issues surrounding Native Territorial Domain under Section 6A of the Land Code.
To him, if these people are natives under the law, then the onus should be on the government to recognise them immediately and furnish them with all their rights.
He said that the recent Sarawak government’s announcement that Sarawakians, especially children born of mixed marriages, may begin applying for recognition as natives seems to like a step forward for the native children of mixed marriages and should have been a cause for unmitigated celebration.
“Instead, administrative requirements have once again caused consternation. These types of requirements have caused issues too many times for Sarawakians to fully applaud this change.
“Many fear the worst-case scenario, in which the rich, powerful and administratively-savvy will reap the benefits while the kampung folk are once again left behind. The Sarawak government and all its agencies must ensure that this is not the case,” said Peter John. — DayakDaily
