citizenship-related complaints

Sarawak-born ex-soldiers who thwarted Indonesian invasion still waiting for citizenship

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Source: The Malay Mail Online

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 ― While national celebrations are taking place in Bintulu to mark Malaysia Day today, five Sarawakians who served as border scouts during the country’s infancy have been denied citizenship.

Basar Arun, Basar Paru, Kadamus Liling, Florant Arun and Anderias Sha were born in Sarawak and had put their lives on the line in the 1950s and early 1960s fighting the Indonesian forces that were bent on preventing the formation of Malaysia.

Despite their service to the country, the five Lun Bawang who defended Sarawak during the Confrontation have been denied a MyKad, supposedly because the National Registration Department (NRD) is unsure of their country of origin, The Star Online reported today. Read more →

Association to seek meeting with ministry on citizenship issues

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Source: The Borneo Post Online

KOTA KINABALU, 18 August 2016: Despite scoring 4As in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), Jerwin Chong Yie, 18, was denied further education in Form 6 because he does not have an identity card.

Jerwin was born to a Malaysian father Chong Vui Hsung, 50, and Filipino mother Jennifer Loping Sausa, 52.

However, Chong and Jennifer only registered their marriage a month after their son was born.

Under such circumstances, the status of the mother determines the status of the child.

Without identification card and Malaysian citizenship, Jerwin was rejected when he tried to apply into Form 6.

“When my son was 12, I took him to apply for an identification card.

“I was told that I must change his birth certificate to a new one in order to apply for the identification card.

“But when the new birth certificate was issued, we still cannot apply for the identification card.

“The National Registration Department (NRD) said the status of my son could only follow that of his mother’s.” Read more →

Suhakam Sabah: 50% of complaints over documents

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Source: The Borneo Post Online

KOTA KINABALU, 18 August 2016: Close to 50 per cent of the complaints received by Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) Sabah this year are documentation issues, with 130 cases filed as of August 16, this year.

Head of Suhakam Sabah, Jasmih Slamat said documentation issues had overtaken land matters in the total number of complaints received by the commission since last year.

This year, a total of 281 complaints have been lodged to Suhakam Sabah as of August 16, of which 130 documentation issues, including children with birth certificate issue or have yet to receive identification cards.

This marked an increase from 79 and 74 cases of citizenship-related complaints received by Suhakam Sabah in 2015 and 2014 respectively.

Jasmih said the drastic increase in documentation cases was because parents wanted to send their children to school.

“There are a lot of children behind 1Borneo who want to go to school as they grow up, although their parents cannot afford it, because their friends have gone to schools.

“And the first thing that schools request are documentation (of children).” Read more →