MyDaftar: ‘A campaign to dupe Indians’

Perak DAP believes the MyDaftar campaign, to register stateless people, by Umno and MIC is merely a political propaganda.

IPOH: The Barisan Nasional (BN) government should bear the burden of proof when it comes to stateless persons born in Malaysia because these people usually do not have proper documentation.

Perak DAP deputy chief V Sivakumar said the onus of the policy on a stateless person to prove that he or she is a Malaysian citizen should as such be reversed.

He said the BN government had the manpower like the police, immigration and registration departments to prove the citizenship of such stateless people.

Sivakumar told FMT yesterday that the eight-day MyDaftar campaign jointly launched by Umno and MIC, which began on Feb 19, will not achieve its target of addressing the citizenship grievances of the estimated 50,000 stateless Indians in the country.

This, he said, was because there is no special consideration given to such stateless people.

“They still have to bring all the necessary documents from A to Z to prove that they were born in Malaysia before the applications can be entertained.

“So there is no justification in such a campaign as the majority of such stateless people do not have the proper documentation to claim their rights as lawful Malaysian citizens,” said Sivakumar who is also Tronoh assemblyperson.

He said the parents of such stateless people, out of ignorance and abject poverty or illiteracy had failed to play their role in registering their children on time to qualify as citizens of this country.

“My suggestion is to put the onus on the BN government to prove that these stateless people are not Malaysian citizens as they claim to be and take punitive action on those who make such fake claims,” said Sivakumar.

BN propaganda

He said DAP was of the view that the 5,000 stateless people, who had applied to register themselves as citizens within two days of the campaign, were merely a BN political propaganda to eyewash the Indian community into believing that they are being looked at after 53 years of neglect and discrimination.

“It is not the quantity of applications that is important here, but the quality of such applications that will be entertained by the authorities for action,” said the ousted Pakatan Rakyat Perak State Legislative Assembly speaker.

Citing the Sabah “Project IC” scandal, Sivakumar said it was irritating and demoralising to know that the BN government is allegedly ready to entertain foreigners as citizens.

“However, the BN government chose to turn the Nelson’s eye to the plight of the thousands of Indians who were born and raised in the country but were denied their citizenship rights.

“Whom do you think will be more loyal to the country and government in the hour of need – the foreigners or local born Indians ?” he asked. - FMT