KUCHING: The recent announcement by Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin to disband the Sarawak Special Committee on Citizenship under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution is regarded by Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) as disappointing and discriminatory to Sarawak.
“It is an act of centralising power in the federal government when it should delegate it to the state (Sarawak) where there are special circumstances. Sarawak must have prerogative over citizenship applications by Sarawak residents,” said SUPP president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian through a press statement yesterday.
SUPP, he added, seeks the federal government to honour its obligation and give the authority to Sarawak government when it comes to application for citizenship from residents of Sarawak.
The decision and prerogative on who in Sarawak qualifies to be Malaysian citizen must rest with the Sarawak government (via Sarawak Immigration autonomy including Sarawak residency which is not negotiable in the past, now or the future), he stressed.
Saying Putrajaya has no knowledge of the conditions in Sarawak, he emphasised that the federal government should be confined to administrative actions of processing citizenship applications that have been approved by the Sarawak government.
The issue of citizenship is a fundamental one, he pointed out.
“It affects the core of what a country is and has a huge impact on the applicant. To be denied or even delayed citizenship has very detrimental effect on the person. It is as good as a life sentence. The child cannot go to school, does not have an identity card and is denied the very basic human rights. He or she has a life of a refugee in his/her homeland,” he said.
The Batu Kawah assemblyman said the issue of citizenship must not be politicised.
“We have seen how this issue was used to destroy the social fabrics of Sabah. Do not turn Sarawak into Sabah,” he asserted.
Dr Sim, who is also Minister of Local Government and Housing, said many residents of Sarawak were cut out from becoming citizens.
“Many of them were or still are children whose parents or one of the parents have issue proving their Malaysian citizenship. There are also many cases where one of the parents does not have proper paperwork to register their children. This is due to remoteness and ignorance of those who still stay at the remote part of Sarawak,” he said.
The special committee was set up by the Ministry of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development in 2016 to ensure the speeding up of applications and their approval.