KUCHING, April 8: The federal government is urged to look into the issue of 729 Long Singut residents who remain stateless even though they have been residing in the border settlement for three generations.
According to Deputy Chief Minister who is now trying to lend them a helping hand, due to the lack of identification, the youth cannot pursue their studies beyond a certain secondary level while the adults cannot legally look for jobs.
“Their parents migrated from Kalimantan in the 60s. The children can’t study beyond Form Five even though they obtain good results, nor could adults seek employment because they have no identification cards.
“The Malaysian government must address their predicament of being stateless once and for all.
“The National Registration Department should send their mobile team to Long Singnut soonest,” said Masing in a statement.
Masing who is also Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president said unless the issue is settled, Malaysians may be dubbed “uncaring”.
“Unless we settle these problems soonest, we could be accused of not caring (prihatin) for our fellow human beings and we will lose valuable human resources,” said Masing, who visited Long Singnut on April 5, 2021.
Together with Masing visiting the Long Singnut’s stateless children was Bukit Mabong District Officer Douglas Pungga. — DayakDaily
