Claim that 54,000 Chinese nationals will be given citizenship untrue, says Fahmi

KUALA LUMPUR: Claims that the Unity Government will be granting Malaysian citizenship to 54,000 Chinese nationals are not true, says Minister of Communications and Digital Fahmi Fadzil (pic)

Through a video shared on his Facebook page on Saturday (Aug 26) night, Fahmi said the figure was actually the total number of applications received from 2017 to 2022.

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In fact, he said Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had explained that only 45 individuals from China have been granted Malaysian citizenship from 2017 until today.

"Even these were only given after the conditions in accordance with Part III of the Federal Constitution relating to the Citizenship Rules 1964 were met. Verify first, stop the slander," said Fahmi.

On Friday, Saifuddin refuted allegations that his ministry was in the process of granting Malaysian citizenship on a large scale to foreigners, especially from China.

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He also described the allegations as "terrible accusations without any sense of responsibility" that had an impact on the ministry's efforts to resolve the current citizenship application issue.

Previously, the National Registration Department (NRD) was reported to have denied claims that about 54,000 Chinese nationals are in the process of being granted Malaysian citizenship, supposedly to become DAP voters.- Bernama