KUCHING: Sarawakian human rights activists Peter John Jaban and Bill Jugah are confident giving citizenship to stateless people born in Sarawak can be done if the the state has fully authority.
Jaban said Sarawak should have control over the issuance of citizenship now that it has regained its original status as an equal partner to Malaya and Sabah in the federation of Malaysia.
He said he had been urging the state government to take over control since 2016.
“There are thousands of genuine natives in the remote rural areas who are without legal documents to identify them as Malaysians due to many factors beyond their control.
“In my view, this represents a clear failure of the federal authorities to understand the specific context of the state and its individual history and indigenous culture.
“I am glad that the state Minister for Women, Childhood and Community Well-being Development Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah has urged Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg to take up the stateless issue with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob for the purpose of taking over the control on the issuance of Malaysian citizenship,” he said in a press statement, on Friday (March 11).
Jaban and Jugah, who have been assisting many stateless persons in Sarawak to apply for Malaysian citizenship certificates, said they believe that the stateless issue can be solved if the state government is granted control.
“We fully know many factors why Sarawakians, especially the natives, do not have birth certificates and identity cards that identify them as Malaysians,” Jaban said , citing the failure of their parents to report their birth to the district offices or national registration offices as they are residing in very remote areas, as an example.
Jaban, a committee member of the Global Human Rights Federation, said many parents in remote areas are also illiterate and ignorant on the urgency and importance of registering the births of their children.
“The parents only realise the importance of birth certificates when they want to register their children to study in government schools or when their children apply for jobs in towns,” he told.
Jaban said, without these documents, the children may not be admitted to government schools and they are denied free health services from the government clinics and hospitals.
“These children should be granted the citizenship on the basis of written testimonies of their village chiefs or community leaders, without the use of birth certificates and identity cards, as this system is closer to their practice of customary law or Adat, which itself is law in Sarawak,” he pointed out.
He also pointed out that there should not be a problem as the village chiefs or community leaders know everybody in their community.
“The National Registration Department (NRD) should not insist that all applications for birth certificates and identity cards must provide written documents as proof that they are born in Sarawak,” he said.
On March 8, Fatimah called for the state government to be granted control over the issuance of citizenship to stateless persons born in Sarawak, especially children because it would enable the affected children to have the same rights as children with Malaysian citizenship status, especially in education.
Fatimah said since the setting up of the special committee on citizenship under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution, a total of 969 applications for citizenship have been received from 2016 to October 22, 2021 but only 253 applications have been approved as of today, while the remainder are still under consideration.
