S Manickavasagam (PKR-Kapar) today put a human face to a long-standing issue by sharing with the Dewan Rakyat how his mother died without a Malaysian citizenship after 56 years of waiting.

NONE He said that despite migrating from India to the Federated Malay States before 1957, she died last year only a permanent resident.

"I am an MP and I brought her to Putrajaya several times, and yet they didn't give her an identity card.

"She was able to sing Negaraku, (speak) fluent Bahasa Malaysia and even English. Why?" he said while debating the budget.

According to the National Registration Department website, a holder of the red identity card is a permanent resident while a blue identity card denotes that the holder is a citizen.

His Sabak Bernam born mother-in-law, too, is facing the same conundrum and has also waited 56 years for her citizenship.

77-years-old, and still waiting

"I also did a search and found Tan Kim, aged 77 and born in Pahang who is still waiting for her identity card,” he added.

This, Manickavasagam ( above ) said, is despite 42,493 people awarded citizenships from 2008 to Mar 2, 2012.

Citing a written reply to him by Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, he said as of Feb 29, there are 225,222 people who hold Malaysian permanent residency.

Of this, 162,233 are Indonesians, 35,856 are Filipinos, 8,950 Thais, 4,412 Cambodians and 13,771 are from other countries.

Speaking to Malaysiakini later, Manickavasagam said that the fact that his mother had died without gaining citizenship had really saddened him.

"That is why I am fighting for all mothers to have blue identity cards," he said.

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