There are at least 2,000 families in Sabah suffering with children who are stateless because of the late marriage registration of the parents, according to Sabah People's Rights Association president Lee Pun Yee.

"One parent from these families is a Malaysian and his or her spouse a foreigner from Indonesia, Philippines or China, who came to Malaysia through legal means," Lee said at a press conference in Petaling Jaya today.

"The first-born of all these families are stateless, while the second child born to some of these families also face a similar problem.

"Their children were rejected citizenship due to the lack of the marriage certificate. The couples had their marriages registered and applied for citizenship again, but they were asked to wait.

"They were not rejected right away, only asked to wait and some have been waiting for 40 years," Lee said, adding that his association had received 25 complaints since it was established five years ago.

Lee noted that only 10 to 20 percent of the stateless children have been able to secure citizenship, through the help of political parties.

The children of these 25 families, who hail from remote areas such as Keningau, Tawau, Tenom and Kota Belud, are aged between four and 20 years.

Despite acknowledging that the problem arose due to the low education level of the local spouse, Lee (left in photo) argued that their children have the legitimate right to citizenship.

"They had their wedding ceremonies conducted traditionally," he said.

He noted some native families, with both parents being Malaysians, also suffered a similar problem because they did not know they had to register their marriage.

"I have a case of a four-year-old stateless child whose 25-year-old father did not register his marriage with a Filipino.

"And a bright 19-year-old girl from Keningau may not have the chance to enter university, for she has been denied citizenship because of late birth certificate application," he added.

Without citizenship, Lee said, the children would not be able to continue their education at tertiary level, and neither could they benefit from public healthcare.

Their wages are also much lower than local employees when they get jobs, he said.

The second generation of those benefitted from the controversial "Project IC", which was carried out during former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's era, have citizenship, according to him.

Compared with the second generation of the "Project IC" beneficiaries, he said, the government should prioritise the "legitimate" stateless children of these Malaysian families.

"I can only say that the government is neglecting our people. It should deal with the (citizenship) applications of the local people first," he said.

Lee, together with Malaysian Chinese Restoration Society president Steven Lee (right in photo above), will be in Putrajaya to meet Ahmad Hasri Yahaya, private secretary to Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Lee had earlier written to the home minister, and Ahmad Hasri, who acknowledged the matter.

The ultimate aim of the Sabah People's Rights Association is to have the government recognise this problem and grant all the stateless children citizenship, he added.