Constitutional change to grant bumi status to Sarawakian children of mixed marriages

 

Among the constitutional amendments that the government is planning includes one that will grant bumiputera status to Sarawakian children from mixed marriages where only one parent is a native.

De facto Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, whose party is the Sarawak-based PBB, was quoted as saying by Borneo Post that this will be possible if the constitutional amendment receives the support of two-thirds of MPs.

He added this will affect around 30 percent of the Sarawak population where one parent is a native and another is a non-native.

At present, the Federal Constitution does not recognise the offspring of a native and non-native as bumiputera.

According to Article 161A(a) of the Federal Constitution, a native in Sarawak is defined as someone belonging to the list of races outlined in Clause 7 or are from marriages exclusively from among races in the list.

The races are the Bukitans, Bisayahs, Dusuns, Sea Dayaks, Land Dayaks, Kadayans, Kalabits, Kayans, Kenyahs (including Sabups and Sipengs), Kajangs (including Sekapans, Kejamans, Lahanans, Punans, Tanjongs, and Kanowits), Lugats, Lisums, Malays, Melanos, Muruts, Penans, Sians, Tagals, Tabuns, and Ukits.

This caused problems for many mixed marriage children where one parent is not from the list to face problems inheriting native land.

Wan Junaidi acknowledged that courts are overburdened by cases involving children of mixed parentage applying to inherit native land from their native parent.

He said it would be possible to, for example, have a "Chinese native" if the child is from an Iban father and Chinese mother.

Musician Alena Murang was among those who hailed the legislative effort.

Alena, whose father is Kelabit and mother is English-Italian, said it's something people like her had waited decades for.

"Children with one native parent (like myself) will soon, rightfully, be legally considered as native by the state.

"Prior to this - we weren’t (If you think we were, trust me, we weren’t - it was only by administrative policy and not law)," she said on Facebook.

She said the legislation is important as it involves the inheritance of native land.

"Thank you for listening to us," she said.

Alena is known for the music video "Warrior Spirit" which won two awards at the UK's International Music Video Awards.

-Mkini