MIRI: Parents have been urged to register the births of their children immediately to prevent them from becoming stateless.
Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah has given this advice to parents in the state many times before and today (Oct 26), she reiterated the call to them.
She said registering the births of their children was vital to establishing the latter’s legal identities.
Fatimah reiterated the call during a press conference with the local media here after attending a meeting with National Registration Department (JPN) Miri and the Sarawak Welfare Department (Miri) at the Sarawak Islamic Complex here.
“Registration of births or deaths must be done (at the JPN). Otherwise, other complications or chains of issues will arise due to the failure to do so,” she pointed out.
Fatimah added that undocumented children could not go to public schools or find jobs.
“To tackle the issue of undocumented children, the state government and the federal government via the ‘ Menyemai Kasih Rakyat’ (Mekar) mobile unit have gone to the field, especially to the rural areas in Sarawak, to help rural folk register for their identity cards (MyKads).
“Through these initiatives, those in the rural areas can also register the births of their children,” she said.
Prior to the press conference, the minister met six individuals who had problems with their citizenship status.
“Due to their citizenship status, they had difficulty applying for government financial aid but we will assist them,” said Fatimah.
Also present were JPN Miri assistant officer Dominic Upai Lagan and Sarawak Welfare Department director Noriah Ahmad.
