Stop belittling sufferings of stateless Malaysians

Instead of taking steps to resolve the problem, the BN leaders are childishly asking Pakatan to produce the 300,000 stateless Indians, says Surendran.

COMMENT

By N Surendran

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein Onn in his statement on Dec 12 has given proof that the Barisan Nasional government is turning ‘stateless’ Malaysian citizens into non-citizens.

This is an extremely dangerous, unlawful and serious action by the Home Ministry.

Hishammuddin claimed that yesterday the NRD in Putrajaya received 308 applications, out of which 280 were for permanent resident status.

This is a blatant and irresponsible lie.

The 308 Malaysian Indians at NRD Putrajaya yesterday filled up applications for the issuance of blue MyKads. They did not fill up any applications for permanent residency.

The applicants were all Indians born in this country and either of whose parents were Malaysian citizens.

Thus under Article 14 of the Federal Constitution, this makes them Malaysian citizens by operation of law. The government has thus unlawfully denied blue MyKads to them.

Why has Hishammuddin branded these persons who are already citizens by operation of law as permanent residents?

In fact, during the Pakatan Rakyat organised rally yesterday, about 500 stateless Indians were present at Putrajaya NRD, accompanied by about 1,000 supporters.

Although advance notice was given, the NRD was unable to properly cater for the large numbers and only 308 managed to put in their applications.

We challenge Hishammuddin to produce the filled application forms, which will show that they are MyKad application forms, and not applications for citizenship.

Hishammuddin and BN political leaders continue to ignore and belittle the sufferings of stateless Malaysians.

Instead of taking steps to resolve the problem, the BN leaders are childishly asking Pakatan to produce the 300,000 stateless Indians. It is the duty of the federal government to locate and register the stateless Malaysians throughout the country.

It is the federal government that has the resources and manpower to do so. It is a complete abdication of duty for the BN government to ask the opposition to resolve the problem.

The fact that stateless Malaysian Indians are encountered in alarming numbers everywhere in the country, whether in estates, rural or urban areas, shows conclusively the devastating failure of the system and the BN government.

We in Pakatan Rakyat say again that there must not be a single person forced to be stateless in our country.

N Surendran is a PKR vice-president.