Ministry urged to allow Penang’s 472 stateless kids to attend school

The Penang government is currently faced with 472 cases of stateless children born to either Malaysian parents or foreigners without marriage certificates, according to Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy.

In his opening speech at the Citizenship Carnival in Komtar today, Ramasamy said that although these cases are complex, his officers would do their best to help those affected.

He also urged the Education Ministry to ensure that these children are able to attend public school.

"Stateless children find it difficult to get registered in public schools, so we urge the Education Ministry to study the issue and take steps to rectify the matter.

"As a caring government, we cannot deny these children their right to education," he said.

Today’s Citizenship Carnival commemorated five years of work carried out by officers under the citizenship programme, which was initiated by Ramasamy's office in February 2013.

The event, which saw hundreds in attendance, provided information to applicants about procedures on how to apply for citizenship.

Five officers for each of Penang’s districts have helped about 1,000 individuals in the state to apply for citizenship status since the programme began.

Indians overrepresented

Ramasamy pointed out that many of those identified as stateless in the state came from the Indian community.

"This is why Pakatan Harapan has included the issue of citizenship status in its GE14 manifesto.

"It is fortunate that Malaysians chose Harapan in the national polls to lead the new government in Putrajaya," he said.

On Aug 13, Ramasamy and several Indian leaders made a courtesy call to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Putrajaya.

One of the issues raised in this meeting was citizenship status – with the group telling Mahathir of the plight of those affected, and the importance of Harapan fulfilling its promises to the community since many are from the lower income group.

"This group does not have access to education, healthcare, social security and mobility.

"As a result of our engagement, Mahathir announced on Aug 14 that permanent residences with red ICs who are 60 years of age and above will be given citizenships and blue ICs.

"The move would benefit 3,407 Indians, and to me, this is a good start and a new hope to those without citizenship under the Harapan government," he said.

The prime minister also noted that blue MyKad can be considered for those below 60 years of age if they were born in Malaysia and one of their parents is Malaysian.

Despite Indians being overrepresented in the statistics, Ramasamy said the statelessness problem involves all communities, and that Penang's statelessness taskforce has handled 155 cases of red ICs for those age 60 years and above.

Of these, 91 are Indian, 61 Chinese, and three are listed as ‘others’, he noted.

There were 35 cases of individuals with red ICs below 60 years of age. Of these, 16 were Chinese, 15 Indians, three Malays and one listed as ‘other’.

As for those born outside of Malaysia, the taskforce came across 137 cases of red ICs, with 72 of these being over the age of 60.

"We will follow up with the relevant departments especially the National Registration Department (NRD) to resolve these cases," he said.

"We suggest the NRD simplify the application process, among others, to issue new forms for those who own red ICs but were born in Malaysia.

"NRD needs to shorten the processing time from two years to one, and it must find the relevant documents like birth certificate instead of asking the applicants to provide them," Ramasamy added.

Those who need help with citizenship applications can contact the officers on Level 3 of Komtar. The office opens on weekdays from 9am to 5pm. -Mkini