Another 46 to receive citizenship letters soon

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Jasni briefs Fatimah during the meeting. Also seen are Harden (seated left), and Abang Mat Ali (second right). — Photo by Mohd Rais Sanusi

KUCHING: A second batch of 46 successful applicants, all of them under 21, will receive their letters of approval to become Malaysian citizens at a soon-to-be-fixed date.

This brings the number of applicants who have successfully obtained citizenship to 92, out of 246 applications made under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution.

They will then be eligible for benefits, privileges and access to numerous benefits in education, healthcare, welfare, economic, employment, and others.

Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah, who announced the good news yesterday, expressed her joy that they had help put an end to the applicants’ lengthy wait.

The first batch of 46 successful applicants received their letters of approval to become Malaysian citizens on Nov 30 last year.

“Now, with the second batch of another 46 successful applicants, it is another milestone for the Special Committee on Citizenship Status which was set up in 2016,” she told reporters at her office here yesterday.

Assistant Minister of Community Well Being Datuk Francis Harden Hollis and officers from the National Registration Department (NRD) and state Education Department were also present.

On another matter, Fatimah said the state NRD and Education Department will collaborate to hold  eMobile Registration Operation throughout the state from March until October this year through coordination with 31 district education offices to address issues of children without proper documentation.

She said the state Education Department had come up with a Student Database Application, and based on information from the database, a total of 1,297 students in the state in 2016 either did not have identification documents or had problems concerning their citizenship status.

Thereafter, the Education Department carried out an extensive process of verification and as of Dec 31 last year, 705 students were found to be Malaysian citizens, 81 non-citizens, 97 had undetermined status and 414 did not have complete information.

Fatimah also said the mobile registration operation, through a special taskforce team known as PPK under the state NRD, would continue to be held throughout the state this year, with a total of 50 programmes to be implemented from Jan 23 onwards.

The team will be visiting remote areas and also schools to help anyone they believe to be Malaysians but without proper documents due to difficulty of access to register at the 52 registration offices throughout the state.

She said as of Dec 31 last year, the special taskforce had completed a total of 158 operations held throughout the state, of which they handled 6,784 applications for late birth registration.

From the number, 4,586 applications were approved.

State NRD director Jasni Jubli and Education deputy director Abang Mat Ali Abang Masagus were among those present.