KUCHING: Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah hopes the new federal government after the 15th General Election will continue to grant citizenships to stateless individuals.

The Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Minister said this would ensure that these people were not left behind in terms of education, health and so on.

“The community’s welfare is well cared for by the previous government and we hope that the next government will be able to carry on the good work.

“We are concerned that if these people are not recognised quickly enough, they will lose out on important citizenship privileges,” she said when welcoming officials from the State Library at her office here yesterday.

Fatimah also hoped that the period taken for the purpose of the citizenship recognition process could be reduced.

She added that the time taken to recognise a person’s citizenship needed to be shortened to at least two years.