By Jaythaleela K
MIRI, Oct 30: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Piasau branch will continue to assist Sarawak’s stateless persons in submitting their citizenship applications to the Special Committee and these include cases under Section 15A of the Federal Constitution, says Assistant Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew.
He revealed, out of 142 cases that they (SUPP Piasau) followed up, 48 have been successfully granted with Malaysian citizenships.
“We are facing various scenario (of cases) , and we are trying our very best to help these stateless persons to submit their applications,” said Ting on Saturday when met at his SUPP Piasau office in Miri.
Reminiscing when Sarawak was under the Barisan Nasional (before Pakatan Harapan took over), Ting said, Sarawak Special Committee (SSC) was established with the aim to resolve stateless issues among Sarawakians
“However, following the change in the government and unstable situation at that time, it (SSC) was later dissolved. But now, with the new ruling government, the SSC has been reinstated to serve its purpose,” he reckoned.
Ting added, via the SSC, it allows the committee to assist every application before sending them to Putrajaya for approval.
Expressing his support over the re-establishment of the SSC, Ting disclosed it would allow Sarawak to do their preliminary investigation before sending any applications over to Putrajaya.
“We need to ensure every detail in the application forms is completed for approval, and that is why SSC is very crucial because, only we in Sarawak know the situation in the state better compared to those in Putrajaya,” he said.
Earlier, Ting was presenting Malaysian citizenship document and MyKad to 68 year-old Wong Pak Sing.
Wong , a Sarawakian who was born in Brunei in 1958, received the document validating his citizenship today from Ting.
According to Ting, Wong first approached him in 2017 to apply for his citizenship.
“In 1971, I had applied for Malaysian citizenship but was rejected,” recalled Wong.
Both Wong’s parents were working in Brunei in the 1950s until his birth in 1958.
Upon receiving the documents that validated his Malaysian citizenship today, Wong expressed thanks to the Ministry of Home Affairs, SUPP Piasau and Datuk Sebastian Ting. — DayakDaily.
