By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Oct 9: Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap has urged for greater administrative powers for Sarawak to issue birth certificates and verify birth data, following revelations that Sarawak’s name was falsely cited as the birthplace of a heritage football player’s grandparent to justify Malaysian citizenship eligibility.
The issue surfaced after the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) exposed alleged document forgery by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
Reacting to FIFA’s findings, which alleged falsified citizenship documents for seven mixed-heritage footballers, Yap described the revelations as a national embarrassment, a serious deception that undermines Sarawak’s integrity and underscores a serious systemic flaw in the federal verification process, which currently centralises citizenship and birth registration matters under federal agencies.
“Under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the 18-Point Agreement preceding the formation of Malaysia, Point 6 explicitly states that ‘Control over immigration into any part of Sarawak shall vest in the State government.’ This constitutional provision, reinforced by Article 161E of the Federal Constitution, prevents Parliament from altering Sarawak’s immigration powers without the consent of the Sarawak Legislature,” he said in a statement today.
Yap stressed that the Sarawak government should be empowered to issue birth certificates directly through its own State National Registration division, administered by Sarawak civil servants but harmonised with federal records.
He argued that this approach would improve the accuracy and authenticity of local birth data and prevent fraudulent claims of Sarawakian ancestry in citizenship applications.
“Such lapses could have been avoided if Sarawak had greater administrative and operational control over verifying citizenship-related records originating from the State. Granting this power would also expedite the resolution of stateless cases involving children genuinely born in Sarawak,” he added.
Currently, birth registration and the issuance of birth certificates remain under the purview of the federal National Registration Department (NRD).
Yap pointed out that the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS)-led Sarawak government has repeatedly demonstrated strong administrative capabilities through various mobile registration and verification programmes.
“Providing Sarawak greater oversight in citizenship verification — especially when Sarawak’s name or documents are cited — will protect both Sarawak’s and Malaysia’s reputation, while preventing future misuse,” he said.
The proposal aligns with the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the principle of administrative devolution championed by the GPS-led government in recent years.
Yap also called on the federal government and the Ministry of Home Affairs to conduct a full internal investigation into how the falsified ancestry claims citing Sarawak were approved.
“Sarawak’s name must never again be misused in falsified documents. Our rights under MA63 are not symbolic; they are legal guarantees designed to protect Sarawak’s identity, integrity, and autonomy within the Federation,” he concluded. — DayakDaily
