Anwar: Gov't indifference to stateless children's plight 'shameful'

The plight of stateless children in Malaysia was "appalling" while the government's indifference to it was "shameful", said Pakatan Harapan de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.

"The government has shown no interest or political will to resolve this matter. It is shameful that stateless children have to file legal actions and be dragged through a series of appeals simply to obtain the basic right of citizenship.

"Whilst the legal process must take its course, I am appalled that large numbers of stateless Malaysian children are still without this basic right," Anwar said in a statement today.

Yesterday, the Federal Court granted leave to appeal three separate cases on stateless children, where adoptive parents or the biological parents wanted the court to determine in terms of granting those affected with a citizenship.

This is the first time that the apex court would decide on the issue of stateless children or people in Malaysia based on questions of law.

The outcome of these three cases will have a major impact on the rights of stateless children or people, whom Padang Serai MP N Surendran said are in the thousands in Peninsular Malaysia alone.

Anwar said Indians made up the largest group affected by statelessness.

"The 10-year Indian Blueprint grandly launched by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak this year is meaningless when a basic human rights issue such as citizenship still cannot be resolved," he said.

Under Najib's Indian Blueprint, RM1 billion had been allocated to implement the blueprint, which among others assures the social upliftment of Indian - Mkini