KOTA KINABALU: The Home Ministry is trying to find a way to help nearly 52,000 children born in Sabah who are unable to obtain birth certificates because their parents are not Malaysians.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department chief Datuk Michael Chong said he has been in contact with Home Minister Datuk Hishamuddin Tun Hussein on the matter.
“The minister is trying to find a solution as he feels the children are the innocent party in this situation,” he told reporters at the Sabah leg of the department’s national roadshow here yesterday.
Also present were Sabah MCA chief Datuk Edward Khoo and Hishamuddin’s special affairs officer Armizan Mohd Ali.
Meanwhile, Chong said the Government is fair in its handling of citizenship applications, noting that 2.2 million of the 2.4 million people who applied for citizenship since 1957 had been successful.
He added that some 98,000 applications were rejected for various reasons while the ministry is trying its best to clear 33,000 of the 68,000 pending applications by the year’s end.
Chong said the ministry also reminded the public to deal directly with the National Registration Department (NRD) for applications for permanent residence and citizenship.
He said over the past five months alone, his department received more than 40 complaints of individuals being cheated by “middlemen” over their applications.
“They lost not only their money but also important supporting documents,” Chong added.
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