THE statelessness issue should be treated as a national problem as the Indian community is not the only one affected, Charles Santiago said in seeking political will to resolve the long-standing problem. 

The DAP lawmaker said in offering assistance and advice to persons with legal documentation issues since June, the 668 cases recorded revealed that the issue cut across all races and social classes. 

“It’s always thought that citizenship issues are problems that affect only Indians. 

“(But) this is a national problem that involves Malays, Chinese and Indians, although the root cause of the problem may be different,” he said at his service centre in Klang today. 

The Klang MP said Indians faced generational statelessness issue while for the Chinese, problems are largely the result of adoptions that don’t go through the legal process or marriages with foreigners. 

Abandoned Malay children or children conceived out of wedlock, meanwhile, were among problems faced by Malays, said Charles.

Of the 668 cases, 40.7% was Chinese, followed by Indians (31.3%), Malays (7.2%) and others (20.8%).

“Political policies have to be implemented because so many people are unable to live a life of dignity because they don’t have the right certificate,” he said. 

He cited the case of Jocelyn Dewi Kanniappan, 21, who was born in Kuala Lumpur to a Filipino mother and Malaysian father. Her parents, however, did not register their marriage legally before having their first two children, preventing the father from passing on citizenship to his children. 

Jocelyn, the second child, is still not recognised as a citizen. 

“I have been waiting 10 years for the government to approve my citizenship application. The only thing it (National Registration Department) has given me is a letter that states my application is being processed. 

“Because of this, I can’t further my studies, I can’t get a job and I can’t even open a bank account,” Jocelyn said. 

Other cases involving stateless persons include children adopted by Malaysian parents, people who were born or arrived before Malaysia’s independence, abandoned children and women facing problems legalising their marriage to Malaysian spouses. 

Charles said apart from working with civil society group Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas in providing technical assistance to affected individuals, a team of lawyers also look into legal issues. 

He also said he would prepare a report listing recommendations and take it to the cabinet level.

“Once we are done with our recommendations, I’m will meet the home minister to discuss how to resolve this issue quickly,” he said. 

“This time around, the minister must scrutinise the issue and cannot pull a BN approach. So many people have started giving up on the process after going to Putrajaya numerous times, doing various things and forking out thousands of ringgit,” he said. 

On July 2, Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had said a committee comprising officials from his and the Human Resources Ministries, had been set up to examine the citizenship problem.

He said the committee would look into issues related to applications for citizenship, red identity cards and pending cases. 

He also said that the National Registration Department had received more than 200,000 applications for citizenship, with a portion being old cases that were pending. 

He said a proposal was also mooted to appoint community leaders in the interior, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, such as village heads or “tuai rumah panjang” (longhouse chiefs), as assistants to register births or issue identity cards due to logistics problems. 

Pakatan Harapan had pledged to resolve the issue of stateless children in its election manifesto. – July 8, 2018.