Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi appears more interested in his “shoot first, probe later” policy against criminals than helping stateless people get their citizenship, said Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy.

Ramasamy said the Home Ministry, and under its jurisdiction, the National Registration Department (NRD), had been “totally unhelpful” when it comes to approving the citizenship applications of stateless people.

“This is despite these people having proof of being born and bred in this country,” Ramasamy told Malaysiakini.

“We have not heard from the relevant departments although a year has passed since we helped send in the application papers for a group of stateless people.

“It is shocking that there has been no response from the minister or the NRD in Putrajaya. We at state level have no say in this but will go on helping these people.

“We’re totally disappointed that the Home Ministry is not doing their job, that its minister is more interested in shooting criminals than solving these problems for the people,” he said.

Ramasamy was referring to Ahmad Zahid's controversial ‘shoot first’ comment on Oct 8, which was captured in a video clip, although the minister has denied urging extrajudicial killings.

Ramasamy made the remarks after reporting that the five officers appointed by the state had submitted 351 applications for citizenships, identity cards and birth certificates.

Ramasamy said citizenship is a fundamental right of citizens, but instead the ministry is more interested in “playing politics” than helping thousands with similar problems.

He added that the problems involving citizenships affect not just the Indians, but Chinese and Malays as well.

At times, the problems holding back their application are “some small technical mistakes”, he explained.

Although both the parents of an applicant were born and bred in Malaysia, he or she can fail to obtain citizenship or are given only red identity cards.

“These people are often poor and sometimes find it difficult to hire lawyers to take the matter to court,” Ramasamy said.

‘Hire a more diversified work force’

Ramasamy urged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to look into the matter and see to the hiring of a more diversified workforce in the Home Ministry and NRD, instead of allowing it to be dominated by one ethnic group.

“Right now, most of the NRD officers are Malays but this problem involves different ethnic groups and is multi-racial in nature,” he added.

Last year, the Penang government took the initiative to kick start the Stateless People Programme, headed by Ramasamy.

This came after December 2011, where a government taskforce under Najib’s office in Putrajaya registered some 14,882 stateless individuals, who are predominantly from the Indian community.