KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Public Complaints Bureau (SPCB) chief, Wilfred Yap was recently approached by an individual for advice and assistance as the application of her stateless niece and nephew for Malaysian Citizenship is still pending approval.
The predicament of her niece and nephew arose as their late father did not register his marriage to their foreign mother.
The above case is just one of the numerous cases handled by SPCB that is very concerned on this issue as stateless children who are born in Malaysia to a Malaysian father who did not register his marriage to a foreign wife are thrown into a complex bureaucratic and legal mess, leaving them with an uncertain future through no fault of their own in the first place.
Yap hoped that Members of Parliament on the ground of Social Justice regardless of whether they are from BN or the opposition will speak out in Parliament on the issue and to convince the Government to re-look its citizenship policies on stateless children and to address the issue of statelessness by amendment to current legislation whereby in situations of stateless children who are born to a father of Malaysian citizenship would acquire Malaysian citizenship by operation of law notwithstanding that the marriage of the Malaysian father to a foreign mother is not registered at the time of their child’s birth.
From cases it was discovered that stateless children want to be Malaysian citizens as they practise the Malaysian way of life and Malaysia is the only home they know. SPCB hopes that Government will place the best interest of the child to be a “primary consideration” in its policy decision.
Yap added that he wanted to notify the public that SPCB is not the approving authority and merely gives advice and assists the public in the proper and correct procedures involved in their application under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution for citizenship status.
