DAP rep's statelessness programme delayed after backlash

A programme on statelessness scheduled to be held on June 30 in Johor has been postponed following backlash.

This is after a poster on the programme went viral, leading to claims that it is an attempt to provide Malaysian citizenship to migrants and calls for an investigation.

Stulang assemblyperson Andrew Chen, whose service centre organised the programme, revealed that the event had been postponed in a Facebook post this afternoon.

The DAP lawmaker said the programme was aimed at addressing the problems of those without citizenship and birth certificates due to the negligence of their parents and other factors.

“For example, the father is Malaysian and the mother is Indonesian. Their marriage is not legal and not registered in Malaysia. The child born does not have a birth certificate and the mother cannot be traced.

“As a result of this, the child will not be able to go to school. (When the child grows up, he or she) cannot find permanent employment, is not qualified to apply for a driving licence and cannot own a vehicle, thus becoming involved in crime and social problems,” he added.

Chen said during the programme, there would be a briefing on the list of documents required for each individual case as well as explanations of which government agencies to turn to.

“It is hoped that no quarter will raise speculations following the misunderstanding which arose from the title in our poster before this,” he added.

It is believed that the controversy erupted over the original title of the programme, which read: “Program Permohonan Kewarganegaraan (Citizenship application programme).”

This has since been changed to “Taklimat dan Penerangan Kewarganegaraan (Briefing and explanation on citizenship)”.

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