PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (pic) has called on the government to address issues related to the MyKid card for Malaysian children living abroad.
He noted that there are many cases of Malaysians under 12 who could not renew their passports because they only had MyKid as identification.
"When they try to get their passports renewed, immigration departments don’t accept MyKid as valid documentation and only accept IC," he said during the debate on the Supply Bill 2024 on the Home Ministry at the committee stage, in a video post on Facebook on Thursday (Nov 16).
He said that over 3,000 Malaysians were stranded overseas due to this issue, most of them stuck in Mecca and the United States.
"There are many families who are forced to stay there for a long time as while everyone else in the family has no issue in getting a passport to travel, the youngest 12-year-old in the family will have problems.
"This issue will then carry forward when they (MyKid card holders) go to university as they will be forced to pay higher rates due to not being able to return to Malaysia, even if they want to be patriotic,” he said, adding that there were over 3,500 Malaysians stranded in the United States.
On this, Dr Wee requested the Home Ministry to continue its efforts to facilitate the registration and application for MyKad for Malaysians who still only hold MyKid in foreign countries.
He also brought up issues related to the citizenship issue of children born to Malaysian mothers who married foreigners, in which he called for the government to assist in genuine cases before the proposed amendment of Article 14 (1)(b).
