NIBONG TEBAL: Granting citizenship to illegitimate and adopted children will be the Home Ministry’s priority for this year, says its minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
The Home Minister said these two categories made up the highest number of applications, followed by children born abroad to Malaysian women married to foreigners.
He said there were also a few applications for naturalisation.
“The officers involved have been told to expedite the applications. I feel it is not fair to the children to be punished over their parents’ wrongdoing.
“The issue can be resolved using the provisions under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution,” he told reporters after a meet-and-greet session with the Indian community at the Sungai Bakap multi-purpose hall yesterday.
Saifuddin Nasution said last year, the ministry had set a key performance indicator (KPI) of resolving 14,000 cases, which it had achieved.
“This year, the number of cases resolved has reached 15,000.
“We want to keep the momentum going, with thousands of applications still pending,” he added.
In a related development, he said he had received numerous applications for citizenship during the meet-and-greet session, which was also attended by Dr Joohari Ariffin, the unity government’s candidate for the Sungai Bakap by-election.
Saifuddin Nasution believes if Joohari wins the by-election, he will be able to help address various issues, especially those related to personal documents, birth certificates, identification cards (MyKad and MyKid), and citizenship.
He said some 600 police personnel would be deployed to maintain public order during the by-election period.
“The first phase will be from now until nomination day. This phase involves logistical preparations, identifying the necessary number of personnel, and gathering information related to the nomination locations, their premises, and access routes.
“All these aspects are being prepared,” he said.
The second phase is crucial to ensure that throughout the two-week campaign period, voters in Sungai Bakap will not have any safety concerns.
He added that the last phase of the preparation would be on voting day itself, when voters could come out in large numbers at all polling stations.
Among those present during the event were Penang Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Dr Mohamad Abdul Hamid, state executive councillor Datuk Seri S. Sundarajoo and several state PKR leaders.
The Sungai Bakap state seat fell vacant following the death of PAS’ Nor Zamri Latiff on May 24.
Based on Election Commission records from the last state election, the Sungai Bakap constituency has 38,409 voters.
Malays (59.36%) make up the majority of voters, followed by Chinese (22.54%), Indians (17.39%) and others (0.71%).
Joohari, 60, is expected to face Perikatan Nasional’s Abidin Ismail, 56, in the by-election. Abidin was the special officer to the late Nor Zamri.
