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Friday, June 24, 2011

Mixed marriages: Give kids ‘bumi’ status

PKR wants the state government to initiate a move to amend the state and federal constitutions to ensure children of mixed marriages in Sarawak be recognised as natives or bumiputera.

KUCHING: Sarawak PKR has called on the state government to initiate a move to amend the state and federal constitutions to ensure the offspring of mixed marriages in Sarawak be recognised as natives or bumiputera.

PKR elected representative for Ba’Kelalan Baru Bian said that when children of mixed marriages are not recognised as bumiputera, they are denied the privileges that come with the status.

“It is not good enough to just have administrative orders or a cabinet decision to recognise children of mixed marriages as bumiputera and native.

“It is high time that the state government clarify this issue once and for all for the benefit of all the offsprings of mixed marriages in Sarawak by amending the definition of ‘natives’ in the federal and state constitutions and the Interpretation Ordinance to include any children of a mixed marriage,” Bian said during the debate on the TYT’s address yesterday.

Bian said that in Peninsular Malaysia, there is an option to register children of mixed marriages as either bumiputera or non-bumiputera.

“It seems that our brothers and sisters in Peninsular Malaysia have it better than us here in East Malaysia.

“In Sarawak, according to the law, unless both your parents are native, you are not native or bumiputera. Yet it seems that in practice for some people, this is not so. If for administrative purposes children of mixed marriages in Sarawak are considered bumiputera, then it begs the question: why is it that in the Marina Udau’s case, the girl that was initially denied entry into tertiary education was not recognised as bumiputera?

In a similar vein, Bian said that he would like to draw the attention of the August house to a peculiar but crucial matter.

“’Natives’ of Sarawak is defined by Art 161A (7) of the federal constitution and surprisingly, the Berawans and the Sabans who live in the northern region of Sarawak are not classified in the list.

“Yet anthropologists and ethnologists will tell you that the Berawans are arguably the first ethnic group to migrate into the northern region of Sarawak many centuries ago,” he said, and urged the state attorney- general to look into this matter and take immediate steps to rectify it.

On religious freedom, Bian expressed concern over recent developments such as on the banning of the importation of the Alkitab into Sarawak.

“It is disturbing and alarming that the sacred book is deemed a material that threatens the security of the federation under the provisions of the Internal Security Act.

“It is a sad incident for religious freedom. It portrays a government which is intolerant and misguided on religious freedom,” he said.

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