KUCHING, February 8, 2022 - Human rights activist Peter John Jaban, who has been advocating statelessness issues for decades, is calling once again for an overhaul of the administration of citizenship approval in Sarawak following a case of Jeanny Lianna Ating, published in a local daily recently.
Peter, a member of the Global Human Rights Federation (GHRF), echoes the statement by Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Datuk Sri Fatimah Abdullah that detailed how the long wait for citizenship approval has caused great suffering for applicants.
He said he believes that, with Sarawak recently regaining its original status in the federation, it is high time for the state to demand full autonomy over its administrative requirements for citizenship to better reflect the local context and to put an end to this misery once and for all.
“I am deeply disappointed that this remains a problem in Sarawak or indeed in Malaysia. Personally, I have been campaigning on this particular issue for nearly a decade and many activists and civil society groups have been calling for change for many years,” he said in a statement.
Picture: Peter John Jaban says the federal government cannot continue to remain deaf and dumb on the stateless issue in Sarawak
“This is not to mention the efforts made by the Department for Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development in tackling the issue,” he added.
He said yet the federal government has remained deaf and dumb to our demands, adding:” It is time the issue was taken out of their hands and into our own.”
Peter said as the citizenship is set by the Federal Constitution, the guiding principle is that every person born within Malaysia of whose parents, one at least is at the time of birth either a citizen or a permanent resident, should be given citizenship and all the rights that this affords.
“This is a statement of intent for our nation, for how we wish to include those born within our borders, and yet the state National Registration Department (NRD) insists on doing everything in their power to exclude anyone who doesn’t quite fit their exact profile.
“Sarawak natives have been particularly hard hit by their administrative rigidity, particularly concerning registrations of marriage as a prerequisite, but this inflexibility or, frankly, lack of understanding of the local context has impacted on all Sarawak communities and many Sarawak citizens.”
“We have had so many cases come across our desk of the effect of NRD’s inappropriate policies. I recall the rainbow family, in which seven siblings have the full range of identity cards: blue, green and red.
“This case has been going on for so long that both the father, who was a former border scout, and the mother, have died in the interim. Even worse, one of the siblings passed away during the pandemic with no resolution to their status,” he said.
Peter said NRD) again has failed to provide citizenship to native Sarawakians including a former boarder scout who died recently despite defending the country during confrontation.
Peter reiterated it is time the country helps stateless natives in Sarawak after 59 years of Independence.
He called on Sarawak’s Premier Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg to put his foot down, saying that it is time to bring the approval process back to the state.
“This will ease the unbelievable delays involved, which see young children unable to attend education while they wait, but also allows for more appropriate administrative requirements to be drafted.
“In fact, with Sarawak’s newly regained status and the current unity government, our premier should be campaigning for amendments to the Constitution so that it becomes the Constitution for all regions of Malaysia, not just Malaya,” he said.
Another activist Bill Jugah , also the founder and chief visionary officer for a newly-formed Independent Council Of Natives (ICON), said the reasons behind stateless also exemplify the roots of the problems in the procedure of NRD.
He said NRD needs to overhaul its policies in the state in order to recognise the stateless situation of many natives.
He said the state should be given the full autonomy over NRD, remarking that the current role of the state NRD director and staff is akin to an office boy or mail delivery service, where the process of approval for applications from Sarawak only comes from Putrajaya.
“Let us solve this issue of statelessness once and for all genuine Sarawakians without going through Putra Jaya. The solution cannot be on a case by case basis,” Jugah said.
He said rules set in Putra Jaya, which does not understand the issues or the customary laws (Adat) cannot be allowed to continue as it has resulted in denial of Sarawak natives nationality,health care, education and even their rights to vote.
“We want the state government to take control of the registration of stateless people or even issue its own registration card.
"If the government lacks the fortitude to establish its own identity card, ICON is willing to initiate this move even if it is seen as a sign of being recalcitrant or even rebellious,” Jugah said.
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