PSM: End plight of stateless people now

PSM’s central committee member Dr Michael Jeyakumar tells Committee on Institutional Reforms that stateless people should not be further marginalised.

PSM central committee member Dr Michael Jeyakumar says the stateless people have a bleak future if their citizenship woes are not resolved.

KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) wants the government to put an end to citizenship issues and let stateless people live a normal life like other Malaysians.

PSM’s Central Committee member Dr Michael Jeyakumar said stateless people, be it children or senior citizens, should not be further marginalised by the government.

“If the government doesn’t solve their problems, they will suffer more and their children and grandchildren will continue to be stateless.

“This doesn’t help them to move forward or help the country,” he said after meeting the Committee on Institutional Reforms.

Jeyakumar and 20 stateless individuals came to meet the committee today to discuss the problems they face in applying for MyKad and what the government can do to ease their difficulties.

The Council of Eminent Persons had announced the formation of the Committee on Institutional Reforms after the May 9 general election to assist the newly-formed Pakatan Harapan government on economic and financial matters.

Jeyakumar proposed that the home ministry consider granting citizenship to those who have Malaysian fathers instead of Malaysian mothers and also those who have lived in shelter homes.

“I have a case, where this man, Raju, did not get a MyKad because he had stayed at a shelter home for years and his mother’s identity was unknown.

“How do they expect him to look for his mother’s documents when he does not know who she is?” Jeyakumar asked.

He also said babies dropped at “baby hatches” might face similar problems like Raju, when they wanted to apply for a Mykad.

“How are they supposed to find their real mothers later in life?”

He said the Committee on Institutional Reforms promised to bring up their problems to the Council of Eminent Persons for submission to the government.

Former home minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had told the Dewan Rakyat in October 2016 that 300,000 children born locally had been listed as stateless. -FMT