MP SPEAKS | According to a parliamentary written reply by the Home Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi between 2012 and January 2017, 15,394 children born in Malaysia were denied citizenship even though their fathers are Malaysian citizens. This means that everyday, there are 8 children born without citizenship.

In November last year, the home minister revealed that there were 290,437 stateless children in Malaysia who are below the age of 18. A number even greater than the entire population of Perlis!

Part II of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution says that “every person born within the Federation whose parents, or one at least, is at the time of the birth either a citizen or permanent resident in the Federation are citizens by operation of law”.

Clearly, there is no provision under the Federal Constitution that expressly states that the marriage of a child’s parents must be officially registered to qualify for citizenship.

Stateless children endure a lot of hardship and inconvenience.

Eight-year old Tan Yao Chun was unable to attend school due to a lack of citizenship early this year. After his plight was highlighted by the media, he was able to enroll into a primary school. Nevertheless, the boy who should have begun schooling at the age of seven has lost a year due to a shortcoming in the system.

At the same time, it was reported in the media that 14-year old Pang Jun Hao from Kuala Lumpur was looking forward to commence his Form 2 when he was cruelly notified that he would not be taken in by the school.

Even if he is taken in by the school, he cannot enjoy free education like other Malaysian children and is not entitled to the Textbook Loan Scheme. Only a handful have the opportunity to go to public universities, as they need to pay foreign student rates and cannot apply for PTPTN.

Not only that, our government imposes full medical charges on non-citizens. They cannot apply for passport and driving license. With all these challenges, these children will have great difficulties to excel in life and they will also have a problem to get a decent job.

Children should not be made victims due to their parents’ carelessness and mistake.

47,232 foreigners were granted Malaysian citizenship in between 2008 to 2015, including the wife of Sarawak Governor Abdul Taib Mahmud.

If we can give citizenship to foreigners, including those from Indonesia (19,935), India (5,228) and Cambodia (2,387), why can’t we grant citizenship to the children of our own Malaysian citizens based on humanitarian grounds?

I have raised this issue in Parliament many times. In fact, I am not alone in Parliament on this issue. The issue of stateless children was raised regularly by the BN MPs as well. However, even though every time the ministers or deputy ministers in their reply would say they also rasa simpati (they sympathise) and agree with me that kanak-kanak ni tidak berdosa (no fault of the children), no action has been taken to solve the issue once and for all!

The government should immediately simplify the process of granting citizenship to these stateless children, because they are children of Malaysian citizens. Citizenship should be granted when the fathers produce DNA report, or have legally adopted the children.

As what Rosmah Mansor said on the Permata website, “Children are the nation’s foundation, and the needs of civilisation’s sustainability. They are valuable assets to nation building, helping to realise our vision and to shape the nations future growth and progress.”

Teo Nie Ching is DAP assistant secretary and MP for Kulai.