Peter John Jaban
KUCHING (March 1): Activists Peter John Jaban and Bill Jugah hope Sarawak will have full autonomy over administrative requirements for citizenship now that state has regained its status as equal partner in the Federation of Malaysia.
In a statement, they said an overhaul of the citizenship approval process in Sarawak is needed following the heartrending case of a 9-year-old girl in Lawas who was stopped from attending school due to her citizenship status.
Peter, a member of the Global Human Rights Federation (GHRF), said he echoes the statement by Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah on how the long wait for citizenship approval causes great suffering for applicants.
He also said this situation can cause a great loss for the state in terms of human potential.
“I am deeply disappointed that this remains a problem in Sarawak or indeed in Malaysia. Personally, I have been campaigning on this particular issue for nearly a decade and many activists and civil society groups have been calling for change for many years.
“Yet, the federal government remains deaf and dumb to our demands. It is time the issue was taken out of their hands and into our own.
“Citizenship is set by the Federal Constitution. The guiding principle is that every person born within Malaysia of whose parents one at least is at the time of birth either a citizen or a permanent resident should be given citizenship and all the rights that this affords,” said Peter.
It was reported in The Borneo Post that the girl, Jeanny Lianna Ating, was born and raised in Sarawak but she and her four elder siblings were denied citizenship following complications due to their parents’ late marriage registration.
Her father Ating Agong, 55, said he and his wife had problems in registering their marriage both through Adat Lun Bawang (Lun Bawang customary laws) and at the National Registration Department (NRD) until the matter was properly materialised in 2016.
According to Peter, Sarawak natives have been particularly hard hit by administrative rigidity, particularly concerning registrations of marriage as a pre-requisite, but this inflexibility “or, frankly, lack of understanding of the local context” has impacted on all Sarawak communities and many Sarawak citizens.
He cited other cases such as a former border scout who was denied citizenship until his death as well as the so-called rainbow family in which seven siblings have identity cards ranging in colour from blue and green to red and that this case remained unresolved even after the deaths of their parents and one of the siblings.
As such, he called on Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg to bring the autonomy for the approval process back to the state in order to ease the “unbelievable” delays involved as well as allow for more appropriate administrative requirements to be drafted.
Bill Jugah
Meanwhile, Bill said the NRD needs to overhaul its policies in Sarawak in order to recognise the stateless situation of many natives.
“Otherwise, just give Sarawak the full autonomy on NRD,” he suggested.
Bill, who is also the founder and chief visionary officer for Independent Council of Natives (Icon), also opined rules set in Putrajaya which have no understanding of Sarawak’s context or the Adat (customary laws) cannot be allowed to continue as it has resulted in denial of Sarawak natives’ nationality, rights to healthcare and education and even their right to vote.
“We want the state government to take control of the registration of stateless people or even issue its own registration card,” he said.
He added an online portal https://bit.ly/BillJugah has been set up to receive such cases so that they can be organised and recorded properly.
“We are now entering the third decade of the 21st century. With all the increased technology and access of the modern world, it is unthinkable that so many citizens should simply drop out of the system.”
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3C0I67S
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