Baru urges Home Minister to settle plight of stateless S’wakians

Baru Bian

LAWAS (Feb 12): Ba Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian has urged Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin to give priority on settling the plight of stateless persons in Sarawak, instead of issuing special cards to illegal immigrants in Sabah.

Baru, who is also Selangau MP, said there were thousands of Sarawakians born and bred here but without birth certificates nor identity cards.

“The Home Minister should prioritise settling their plight over that of illegal immigrants.

“We are doing this for a humanitarian cause as they are also citizens of the world and as such, we should be giving them an identification document,” Hamzah in a news article recently, adding that special card would also be extended to their children which would enable them to get jobs and workers’ cards.

“Our Sarawakian brothers and sisters are citizens of Malaysia but the Home Ministry has been painfully slow in helping them.

“What about a similar humanitarian response for them?” Baru asked.

He lamented the stateless individuals could not get proper employment without the necessary papers and were vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous employers.

“Imagine how they must feel upon learning that the government will issue special IDs to illegal immigrants in Sabah which might help them find employment,” he said.

Baru said he had recently stated that the stateless people were in their situation through no fault of their own, and suffer hardships that others did not even realise.

He said the reason for their statelessness was that it was too difficult for their parents who lived in remote places to go to the nearest towns to register their births.

“Perhaps, many are unaware of the need to do so. I have been assisting many in my area with their applications but the response has been unsatisfactory, to put it mildly,” he said.

He related one incident where he had written to the Lawas Education Department to allow a Primary 5 pupil from Berunut, to be accepted at SK Lg Luping but the request was rejected by the department two days ago.

He said the reason given was that the father’s application for citizenship was pending, because he is a temporary resident here.

“His son was allowed to register and study at SK Lg Tuma for four years, but now not allowed to be registered at SK Lg Luping.

“This is just one instance of the many problems faced by our stateless Sarawakians and their families. Because of the slow response and many times, lack of response from the Home Ministry, the families are trapped in their nightmares, unable to move forward to improve their lives,” he said.

He thus called on Hamzah to show the same humanitarian compassion for stateless Sarawakians and issue them with ID cards so they can become citizens of their own country.

from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3sTse39
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