By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, Dec 13: Minister for Women, Childhood, and Community Wellbeing Development (KPWK) Sarawak Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah will make a courtesy visit to the newly-appointed Home Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, to discuss the Special Committee for Citizenship for Sarawak.
Fatimah intends to raise matters concerning the devolution of power from federal to State, including the reinstatement of the Special Committee for Citizenship under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution.
“We hope to pay a courtesy visit to the Home Minister soon so that he can hear about the issues we face in Sarawak,” she told reporters today at a press conference following the Majlis Wanita dan Keluarga Sarawak (MWKS) meeting No.3/2022, which was held in Petra Jaya here.
She highlighted that her ministry has received 100 applications for temporary identity documents for Sarawakian children since the application process began on Nov 1, 2022.
“The confirmed number of children without citizenship who applied for temporary identity documents is 100.
“If we do not assist these children in obtaining citizenship, they will be unable to receive an education, and their future will suffer as a result, making it a social issue.
“So, Insya’Allah, we will communicate with the Home Minister and inform him of the situation regarding stateless children in Sarawak,” she explained.
Fatimah also stated that the majority of the cases stemmed from the unregistered marriage between one of the child’s parent to a foreigner.
“In most cases in Sarawak, one parent is Malaysian and the other is a foreigner, such as a Filipino or an Indonesian,” she said.
She also pointed out that another issue involving stateless children is adoption, in which the adoption procedure is not carried out correctly, resulting in the child not having Malaysian citizenship. — DayakDaily
