Tackling Statelessness Is Not Usurping Malaysia S Sovereignty

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A programme to explain and educate those without citizenship, birth certificates, marriage certificates, permanent resident status and others has been postponed in Johor as a result of the opposition from Umno and PAS.
Originally, the statelessness programme in Johor was scheduled for June 30 but was deferred because of the attempts by Umno and PAS to give it a racial tint.
The programme was supposed to educate, elucidate and explain especially to those in the B40 category as how to apply for identity documents such as citizenship, permanent residency, birth certificates and others.
The programme had nothing to do with the National Registration Department (NRD).
I remember when I was the former deputy chief minister II of Penang,
The state government then allowed me to set up a citizenship unit in 2013 with a small number of staff to assist those in need of identity documents.
The aim was to assist applicants with how to fill up application forms and how to submit them to the NRD. But the actual applications to the NRD were by the applicants themselves.
The unit functioned as a mere guide or facilitator. When I left the party and the government in August 2023, the coordinator of the unit was Yeap Choon Keong.
Little success
During those days, for every 100 applications, the success rate was less than 10 percent with a long gestation period. Before I left the government, applicants who had applied in 2013 were still waiting.
It was quite common for the applications to be rejected and the process of re-applying takes place.
Due to the cumbersome bureaucracy in the NRD, applicants for identity documents have to wait for a long period. After some time, the applicants lose interest and just give up.
The unit under the Penang government had no relationship with the NRD on the matter of obtaining identity documents. It was a centre where the applicants would be assisted in forwarding their applications to the NRD.
The granting of identity documents remains the sole preserve of the NRD.
The unit in Penang was a voluntary initiative on the part of the state government to assist those who were without identity papers. It was placed under my portfolio.
There was no such thing as the unit achieving tremendous success within a short period of time, raising suspicions that something fishy was going on.
During my time, most of the applicants were from the B40 Indians category. There were significant Chinese applicants as well as a small number of Malay applicants.
Citizenship application struggles
Over the years, hundreds of those without the identity documents have come to see me to narrate their difficulties in obtaining jobs, getting the children to be registered in schools and having the marriage legally certified.
If only the NRD had taken more humane approach to resolving the issue of statelessness, there would be no need for the setting up of voluntary bodies to assist people who are drifting in the country aimlessly.
It was painful to see young children not attending schools because they didn’t have birth certificates. Husbands and wives are separated in different countries because there is no documentation certifying their marriage legality.
Hundred and thousands of individual, young and old, are without citizenship although they are eligible by law.
After Yeap became the unit coordinator in Penang, I encouraged him to assist other voluntary statelessness initiatives in other states.
Yeap, with his years of experience in Penang, was to have assisted in the Johor programme.
I had brief conversation with Yeap over the phone. He was upset that the statelessness programme in Johor was politicised beyond imagination.
The criticisms from PAS and Umno are below the belt. There is no such thing as the initiatives being for Chinese nationals to gain citizenship. How this kind of allegation was thrown around seems mind-boggling.
No replication
The statelessness programme is not meant to replace or replicate the functions of the NRD. This conclusion is wild and bizarre! The NRD is pretty much intact and cumbersome as usual. The divisive forces even interpreted the programme as an attempt to usurp the sovereignty of the NRD which comes under the Home Ministry.
PAS and Umno might not like the DAP, but such an abhorrence shouldn’t be translated in creating and perpetuating falsehoods of the work related to assisting the forlorn individuals in the country to seek the much-needed identity documents.
I am not fond of the DAP leadership either, but I will firmly support the numerous initiatives of the DAP or PKR or any political parties or civil society organisations to address the issue of statelessness in the country.
I don’t understand why the Johor programme had to be postponed just because the right-wing Malay forces wanted to politicise it along racial lines.
If I was involved, I would have defied them or invited the “ethnic” champions to the programme itself.
Even if these statelessness initiatives are undertaken by political parties, there is nothing political in them. They are just humane voluntary efforts to speed up the process of securing the much-needed identity documents.
Maybe, Umno and PAS should ask the government of the day as to why the problem of statelessness continues to persist in the country. Why is the problem remains unsolved for many years?
If the NRD had been doing its job, then there is no necessity for the emergence of these voluntary initiatives to assist the problem of statelessness. - Mkini
P RAMASAMY is a retired UKM professor, former deputy chief minister II of Penang and is currently the interim chairperson of United for the Rights of Malaysians Party (Urimai).
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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