THE Home Ministry has assured that all citizenship applications submitted this year will receive a decision within one year.
“We would like to emphasise that all outstanding applications will be resolved in 2026.
“In addition, all complete applications submitted in the current year will receive a decision within one year of submission,” it said in a parliamentary written reply dated Jan 27.
Over 34,000 applications were approved by the ministry in the past three years.
Between 2022 and last year, the ministry had assessed and decided on 52,444 applications, which included backlogs.
“Of the total, 34,423 applications were approved while the remaining 18,021 were rejected.
“These decisions encompass applications submitted under various provisions of Part III of the Federal Constitution, including Article 15A, Article 15(2), Article 19 and Article 30,” it said.
As of Dec 31 last year, 3,738 citizenship applications were still pending a decision.
The ministry was responding to a question by Kamal Ashaari (PN-Kuala Krau) who asked for a breakdown of the 49,000 Malaysian citizenship applications that have been assessed, as well as how many have been approved and rejected to date.
Separately, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the Bill to amend the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) Act is in the works and expected to be tabled in the next meeting of the Dewan Rakyat.
“The government is committed to implementing reforms to the Sosma to ensure a balance is achieved between national security needs and the protection of human rights,” he said in a written parliamentary reply.
The reform process is currently at the final stage of review to finalise the proposed amendments and involves the Home Ministry, the Attorney General’s Chambers and the police.
Saifuddin Nasution said the amendments will be tabled once all stakeholder consultations are completed and the Bill receiving the Cabinet’s approval.
He was responding to a question from RSN Rayer (PH-Jelutong) on when the government would implement legal reforms to the Act.
There have been calls for the draconian law to be repealed.
Some parties have also called for the 28-day detention without trial provision to be amended.
On another matter, the Home Ministry said cooperation between the National Registration Department and the Finance Ministry is being strengthened to enable the faster data synchronisation after MyKad replacements.
This was to ensure eligible recipients can continue to access government assistance without disruption amid public complaints that some had lost access to Budi Madani RON95 (Budi95) petrol subsidy after getting a new MyKad.
It said that the issue was temporary and technical in nature caused by differences in data update cycles between agencies.
