PETALING JAYA: The government should immediately reform all laws and policies on citizenship in light of the case of Rohana Abdullah, a stateless woman who has been striving to become a citizen, said the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).
Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and home minister Hamzah Zainudin have both promised to help Rohana, 22, who was brought up by kindergarten teacher Chee Hoi Lan after being abandoned by her Indonesian mother as a two-month-old baby.
In a statement today, Suhakam said it hoped the home affairs ministry would take a holistic approach to address all citizenship issues involving stateless persons instead of focusing on citizenship applications on a case-by-case basis.
Noting that stateless persons have been denied fundamental human rights such as education and healthcare, it said it is incumbent upon the state to find an immediate resolution to the matter.
“The government should adopt more transparent procedures to facilitate the citizenship applications to reduce and prevent statelessness in the country,” it said.
Suhakam said the Federal Constitution contained a strong legal safeguard against statelessness in its Second Schedule, which stated that “every person born within the Federation who is not a citizen of any other country is a citizen of Malaysia by operation of law”.
Rohana previously said she was abandoned by her Indonesian mother, a domestic worker at the kindergarten where Chee worked. She said her father, a Malaysian, had also disappeared.
“In cases like this, the documentation required by the national registration department (JPN) must be reasonable and in line with the provisions of the Federal Constitution, as stateless persons generally lack any proper and formal form of identification,” said Suhakam.
Earlier this week, Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching said there were many more stateless children who had been experiencing “very similar tragic and traumatic experiences” in getting their citizenship.
Calling on Ismail and Hamzah to acknowledge the policy gaps on the issue of citizenship applications, the former deputy education minister also proposed that all stateless children adopted by Malaysians be given citizenship.
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