KUALA LUMPUR, 14 Jun -- Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail ketika sesi soal jawab pada Persidangan Dewan Rakyat di Bangunan Parlimen hari ini. --fotoBERNAMA (2023) HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA
THE proposed constitutional amendments related to citizenship will be presented to the Conference of Rulers on July 12, says Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
“If these proposed amendments receive the royals’ approval, it will be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat during the October meeting,” he said.
Aside from automatic citizenship to children born to Malaysian women overseas with foreign spouses, the other amendments are to clauses and articles in the Federal Constitution relating to statelessness, late issuance of birth certificates as well as unregistered births, he said.
These were among the eight proposed amendments that seek to provide a comprehensive solution to the longstanding issue of citizenship.
He said this while wrapping up debates concerning his ministry on the Suhakam 2020 Annual Report.
Earlier, Roy Angau Gingkoi (GPS-Lubok Antu) said he hoped the National Registration Department (NRD) would not be too rigid in processing citizenship applications from rural Sarawakians.
Angau said some Sarawakians living in the rural areas have had their permanent residency and citizenship applications rejected by authorities who have found it difficult to trace the applicants since they are from the nomadic Penan tribe, for instance.
Angau who particularly spoke on marriages, said most of these unions were formalised only by longhouse chiefs with longhouse dwellers as witnesses, without official registration with the NRD, thus resulting in children who are deemed “stateless” despite being born in Sarawak.
Therefore, he urged the government to grant autonomy for Sarawak to address the issue of statelessness, particularly among children.
“Give the (powers) to Sarawak to solve these citizenship issues swiftly so that they (children) are not deprived of their right to healthcare and education,” he said.
