KUCHING: Sarawak Patriots Association (SPA) has expressed concern over the Home Ministry’s decision to dissolve the Special Committee of Citizenship.
The ministry wants to replace it with a Special Taskforce to handle citizenship under Article 15 of the Federal Constitution.
SPA said Sarawak had the Births and Death Registration Ordinance (Sarawak Cap 10) which was amended on December 1, 1965 to register births and deaths.
In fact, the state has a separate law pertaining to immigration after it was granted self-rule on July 22, 1963 and it was gazetted in 2016 that July 22 is Sarawak Independence day, said SPA.
In view of this, SPA said it would like to remind the federal government that Sarawak is an equal partner in the formation of Malaysia on Sept. 16, 1963.
SPA was responding to the Home Ministry’s decision to replace the existing Committee of Citizenship with a Special Taskforce to handle citizenship under Article 15 of the Federal Constitution.
SPA felt that processing of citizenship application by Sarawak would definitely be faster as the state government did not have citizenship applications from other states in Malaysia to process.
“In a New Malaysia, and being a Malaysian citizen, we like to see that there is consultation between the federal government and the state government.
“Sarawak is not a state under the Malaysia Agreement 1963, but an equal partner. For the partnership to work well, SPA calls for regular consultation to avoid future disappointment of Sarawak government,” it said.
According to SPA, it had received complaints from organisations that it took the federal government too long to approve security licences.
“They said it is more than three years now and there is no news. Security licences are under the Home Ministry too. SPA is asking why it is taking so long time,” said the statement.
SPA is concerned that as the federal government now takes over citizenship approval process, it may take a longer time than needed.
It called on the government machinery to speed up its approval process.
