Home Ministry not serious about solving legitimate citizenship applications – Selangor exco Ganabatirau

SUBANG JAYA, April 30 — The Home Ministry is not serious about solving citizenship issues faced by those with legitimate claims for Malaysian citizenship, says Exco Selangor State Government and Kota Kemuning Assemblyman Ganabatirau Veraman.

“There are many people who were born in this country before 1957 and without proper documents. They are the ones facing citizenship issues due to lack of proper documents. The KDN is aware of this, but no concrete steps have been taken so far to resolve their situation, ” he told Weekly-Echo in a recent interview.

“KDN officers have taken to giving different interpretations of the related laws every time they look at a case. Each officer has his or her own interpretation of a case and this causes a lot discrepancies in handling applications. This in turn is costing people with genuine cases the right to getting their citizenship status done and to move on with their lives.”

Many of the older generation of them have lost out on many benefits such as BRIM, Prihatin, OKU and other government assistance due to their stateless situation.

Some of the cases are long outstanding, without any definite time frame given for the resolution of these cases.

The Home Ministry must come up with clear guidelines to solve the cases. There has been none so far, and no real effort has been taken by a Home Minister to look into this matter, he said. T

The inconsistencies in dealing with documentation issues are stark, he said, alluding to the fact that many foreigners have quickly gone on to gain documents to become permanent residents and so on, but the same speed is not applied in the cases of people who are born and living in this country their entire lives.

Meanwhile, asked on the efforts taken by his office to help people under his constituency with citizenship and other documents, he said two full time officers were made dedicated officers for looking into documentation issues.

“As part of the manifesto that was made to resolve this problem, I convinced the Menteri Besar of Selangor to provide for two full time staff to take care of the matter as it was a number one issue for many.”

The officers are doing a good job and have been able to resolve more than 150 cases since 2018 cases.

–WE