KUCHING: Starting Nov 1, children of mixed parentage can apply for recognition as a native at any district office in Sarawak, following the enforcement of the Interpretation (Amendment) Ordinance 2022.
Resident of Kuching Norleha Shariff said each applicant is required to fill an application form, attached with passport-sized photo, their birth certificate as well as their parents’ birth certificates.
As for those whose parents had passed away, she said, the death certificates would be required.
“In addition, a RM100 payment must be done in cash. At the moment, there is no online payment yet, but we are looking into it,” she told reporters at the Kuching Resident Office here Wednesday.
Norleha said it will take between three and seven working days for the office to verify an application, including all the information and documents before submitting to the Department of the Premier of Sarawak.
“Once the Department of the Premier of Sarawak approves an application, a certificate to recognise the person/ applicant as native will be issued.
“It is estimated the whole process will be around three months,” she said.
Applicants who wish to know about the status or outcome of their application can contact the Administration Unit of the Department of the Premier of Sarawak, she said.
“I was informed that they will have a meeting on the 15th of every month on the matter (application),” she added.
She also explained that the qualifying criteria is very simple; for any person to be recognised as a Native of Sarawak, he or she must be a Malaysian citizen; a natural born child of a person of a race indigenous to Sarawak; and one of his or her parents is a person of a race indigenous to Sarawak.
As of 12.30pm Wednesday, the Kuching district office had distributed more than 30 forms while four applications had been submitted.
Earlier, Norleha also chaired a meeting with a group of community leaders and representatives from various associations and organisations led by Datuk Ose Murang to discuss the matter.
Ose expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the Sarawak government as well as the Resident of Kuching for their commitment in addressing and resolving the long standing issue.
“Today is definitely a meaningful day as our children who did not have native status in the past, will soon receive due recognition. I have been waiting for this for 30 years,” he said.
Previously, he said, children of inter-marriages between a native and non-native cannot inherit native title land from their parents. Only children with both native parents can have interest over these lands.
“I have not been able to pass my native properties to my children as they are not recognised as native as my wife is non-native. With the amendment of the law, it now only requires that one person – either a mother or father – is native.
“So my daughter is coming back to apply for the status next week,” he said, referring to singer-songwriter and sape player Alena Murang.
Apart from that, Ose said, children of mixed parentage can now have status recognition for entry into public universities or tertiary institutions as well as benefit from some government programmes designed specifically for natives.
The amendment will resolve the predicaments of those having their native status questioned or those not previously recognised as native by the government.
