KUALA LUMPUR: There were 31,494 applications for Malaysian citizenship from 2015 to June this year, and Sabah alone accounted for 9,388 of them.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin (pix) said these were for persons below the age of 21. The applications were made under Article 15(A) of the Federal Constitution or as registrations under special circumstances for minors. 28,211 of these applications are being processed.
He said his ministry would look into details such as the legal status of the children.
“We must know whether or not they are children of illegal immigrants, what caused them to become stateless, where they were born,” he said in reply to a question from Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Semporna) during question time in Parliament.
“In Sabah, there are stateless children who had been abandoned by their parents and are also already grown-ups now. A solution must be found for this problem,” he said.
Hamzah said these children do not know whether they are from the Philippines or Indonesia.
“They can’t go to school because there is no clarity (on their status),” he added.
Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen said the ministry had been giving the same answer year after year when questions on stateless children were raised.
He also wanted to know how the government differentiated the problem of stateless children in Sabah and Sarawak where it is also a big issue.
Shafie also asked the government to clarify its stand on the IMM13 paper holders of whom there are 30,000 to 40,000 in Sabah. They are recognised by the United Nations as war refugees.
Apart from that, he wanted to know the status of the “hundreds of thousands” of illegal immigrants carrying Burung-Burung and other census cards.
“We can’t legitimise something that is illegitimate,” he pointed out.
Hamzah gave an assurance that citizenship would not be granted indiscriminately.
“Neither should children holding the IMM13 papers be treated differently from those holding Burung-Burung and other census documents.
“Let us find out what their parents’ status is. Looking at the human factor, we need to ensure that children who are stateless should at least have an identity to live in the country,” he said.
He added that he plans to introduce a standard document to replace the IMM13 and the census card.
