KOTA KINABALU: Tan Sri Pairin Kitingan shot down plans by the Home Ministry to issue birth certificates to stateless children in Sabah, saying it was unacceptable, unconstitutional, illegal and dangerous.
The Deputy Chief Minister said this when responding to remarks by Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zahid Hamidi on Wednesday that stateless kids in Sabah would be given birth certificates as it was humane to do so.
“We have to be very careful here because this is a very sensitive issue. When you talk about giving birth certificates, you must know whether they are children of Malaysian parents, if they are not, if they are stateless, if you don’t know where they are from, you can’t just give them documents just like that.
“There are procedures to be followed. First of all, if they are stateless, then somebody must look after them. In other words, the government must determine who are the guardians,” he said when asked for his comment after a courtesy visit by Niosh chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye at the Public Works Department here, yesterday.
Zahid, in answering a question during a parliament sitting on Wednesday, said stateless children issue would be addressed once the findings of the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants were tabled in parliament.
He said a solution to the citizenship problem in Sabah had been identified and would be presented through the RCI report but for now, the children would be given birth certificates to allow them to attend school.
Pairin said it was very important to look at the proposed issuance of birth certificates from all aspects and the government must not rush into implementing a measure that could have unnecessary adverse impacts.
“We have to look at it from the constitutional point of view. You have to look at it from many aspects, particularly from the view of the local people. Malaysians need to feel they are being protected and cared for.
“A birth certificate is usually issued soon after the birth of a child and of course there are some late registrations. There are citizens, for example those born in the interior, who do not have the document. These are not stateless kids found on the streets. They are undocumented Malaysians born in remote villages,” he said.
Pairin, who was among the key witnesses called before the RCI proceeding that took over a year to be concluded, cautioned that it could be very dangerous for the government to give citizenship based on humanitarian grounds alone as this could create unnecessary negative reaction from local Malaysians.
He said it was bad enough that there were allegations of people from other countries easily obtaining citizenship through unlawful means and being used as phantom voters during elections and the government need to be careful to add another problem.
“It would be so easy to say that we give birth certificates or whatever to stateless children based on humanitarian ground. But if that is the excuse, then it would mean you can do anything based on humanitarian ground and that is very dangerous, and that is not acceptable at all.
“We can’t simply give birth certificates and grant people citizenship in the name of humanitarian cause; it is not according to the law and it is dangerous,” stressed Pairin.
Asked if he agreed with the unofficial estimate saying there was a huge number of stateless children in the state, he said this could be a subject of investigation and scrutiny on what stateless and street kids meant.
“This needs to be seriously looked into, because we will come to a stage where we must recognize who are genuine Malaysians and “copy Malaysians” with false ICs. We seem to see a lot of fake documents turning up, so obviously the rakyat feel that the government must do more to ensure their interest are genuinely defended and protected.
Touching on his meeting with the Niosh official, Pairin said his ministry welcomed the agency’s suggestion to organize more activities to promote occupational health and safety (OSH) among its agencies.
He informed a seminar on safety at the workplace would be held by Niosh for the Public Works Department (PWD) in January.
Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye meanwhile said Niosh was planning to set up a branch in Tawau, to complement existing branches in Kota Kinabalu, Labuan and Sandakan.
“We are looking to collaborate more with government agencies in Sabah in terms of training and consultation on OSH,” he said.
He also informed that a total of 381 cases of industrial accidents had been reported in Sabah in the first six months of this year, which is lower compared to the 970 cases recorded for the whole of 2013.
Nationwide, he said over 24,000 cases had been reported from Jan to Jun, more than half of the over 35,000 cases recorded in 2013.
Niosh Sabah and Labuan director Mohd Hassim Abd Salam said most of the workplace accidents in Sabah were in the construction, plantation, and oil and gas sectors.
“The number of cases in the public sector are relatively very low but efforts still need to be done to further improve the safety as well as health aspects at government offices,” he added.