It was clarification letter, not circular, to MOE: Immigration DG

PUTRAJAYA: Immigration Director-General Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali today clarified the letter to the Education Ministry (MOE) was a letter to clarify some issues pertaining to documents required for three categories of children to enrol in government or government-assisted schools.
He said the letter dated Dec 28 last year, issued by the Immigration Department of Malaysia (JIM), was to answer the questions raised by the MOE Daily School Management Division.
"The letter, dated Dec 28, was not a circular but it was a reply to MOE Daily School Management Division over its previous inquiry," he said in a press conference here today.
Recently, a news portal reported that a few stateless children in Penang were barred from enrolling at school, following the 'circular' issued by JIM.
"After all, matters involving the enrolment of student at school are under MOE jurisdiction and not JIM's," he said.
He said on Nov 28 last year, MOE Daily School Management Division submitted a letter asking for clarification on whether the children who were born in and outside Malaysia would require a passport or valid travel document to enrol in government schools.
Subsequently, on Dec 28, JIM responded in a letter explaining that foreigners who were born here or abroad required valid passports from their respective countries to allow the pass to be issued for residing in Malaysia.
The department, in the letter, also explained that only Malaysian-born children were not required to have a passport to reside in Malaysia, he said.
The letter also stated that children without citizenship but had applied for it were required to have passports according to their respective countries until they were given a Malaysian citizenship, he said. — Bernama