Abang Johari (third left) presents a young recipient with his temporary document witnessed by (from left) Rosey, Fatimah, Dr Sim, Abu Bakar and Razi. – Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING (March 16): Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg has called for community leaders in the state to help identify stateless children in their respective villages or longhouses.
He said this would ensure that the state government, through the Ministry of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development, can coordinate their applications for citizenship.
“Perhaps there are some residents who are married but their children have never been registered due to various reasons.
“By identifying the stateless children, the community leaders is helping the district officers and Resident Offices so that we can have an accurate figure of such cases so that these children can have identification documents,” he said at the handing over of temporary documents for stateless individuals in Sarawak (DSITKS) ceremony at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here today.
He said his request to the community leaders was not to poke into one’s affairs.
“It is because we love children and they must be given access to education and healthcare so that they can grow up to lead good, successful lives as adults,” he said.
Abang Johari pointed out that the Ministry of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development is currently conducting a study on the number of stateless children in Sarawak.
He also said that the study is also identifying the reasons why these children were not registered as citizens.
“It could be due to factors such as unregistered marriage, the child was not registered when he or she was born and so on,” he said.
He said DSITKS is an initiative of the Sarawak government through the Ministry of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development to ensure that stateless children in Sarawak have access to education and healthcare services.
He stressed that the issue of citizenship is one of the matters given emphasis by the state government even though approval for citizenship is under the federal government through the Home Ministry.
“We have observed that sometimes the children end up without documents because the application process takes too long and as such, they do not have access to education and healthcare.
“The Sarawak government is very concerned when parents are unable to send their children to school or to seek treatment at government health facilities.
“That is why we have to find a solution and we decided that the stateless children can be given temporary documents before they receive their approval for citizenship,” he said.
During the ceremony, Abang Johari handed over the temporary documents to 45 recipients eligible for DSITKS.
The state government had approved a total of 73 DSITKS for the first batch.
Also present were Deputy Premier Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian; Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah; and Deputy Ministers of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Datuk Rosey Yunus and Mohamad Razi Sitam; and State Secretary Datuk Amar Mohamad Abu Bakar Marzuki.