Wong (right) happily shows his MyKad to Ting.
MIRI (Oct 31): After a long wait of 50 years, Wong Pak Sing is finally able to call himself a Malaysian.
When met at SUPP Piasau Office yesterday, the 63-year-old Wong shared his story with the media on his journey to obtain Malaysian citizenship.
Born in Brunei to immigrant parents from China, Wong’s father was working as carpenter (in Brunei) at the time. Not long after, the family came to Sarawak and settled down in Lawas for good.
“During the time, my nine siblings and I do not have a permanent citizenship because of my parents’ citizenship status. In 1971, when I reached the age of 13, I applied for Malaysian citizenship for the first time, however was rejected. I was disappointed but still remain positive.
“Then between that time and 2016, I have tried asking around, including politicians in Sibu, where I was residing at the time, on how the application procedure should go. These individuals have helped writing letters after letters but received no answer in return,” said Wong.
Travelling was a big problem for him, even to Brunei, because of his stateless status.
“When I first apply for Malaysian citizenship, it caused my status in Brunei became invalid. So, rejection from the National Registration Department made me become stateless. Though I was red card holder, travelling to places become painstaking because I had to apply for visa which was time and money consuming,” said Wong.
Then a friend told Wong to approach Datuk Sebastian Ting as the assemblyman was known to have handled many such cases.
They met in July 2017 and followed up by pursuing Wong’s citizenship application case.
The application was finally approved and Wong officially obtained his MyKad at UTC Miri just two days ago.
“I was so overwhelmed by looking at the identification card held in my hand. The wait was long but it has come to an end,” said the spare parts retailer.
He was the fifth among his siblings to successfully obtain Malaysian citizenship.
Ting, who is also assistant minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, shared that applications for citizenship usually require a long waiting time.
He revealed that there are currently 142 cases pending as he continues to following up with the National Registration Department. This includes 32 cases involving young children.
“Usually the first application will be rejected without any reason given. Though every case is different from other, I could roughly categories into four types – child born to unmarried Malaysian man and foreign woman; born and raised Brunei resident coming to Malaysia; child born to Malaysian father and foreign mother but mother left; and child adopted through improper procedure.
“What’s more important is that they must pursue the right way, undergo proper procedure and patience,” said Ting.
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