Pertubuhan Permuafakatan dan Perpaduan Masyarakat Peranakan Suluk Bajau Sabah (PSB) president Datu Akjan Datu Ali Muhammad told FMT there were thousands of people in Sabah who were still waiting for their citizenship applications to be approved.
“I hope while the federal government moves to appease the people in the peninsula, Sabahans and Sarawakians are not neglected again. In Sabah, the problem is worse than in the peninsula,” he said.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said permanent residents aged 60 and above who had applied for full citizenship would be granted this soon, provided that they fulfilled certain conditions.
These include being born in Malaysia, having a parent who is a Malaysian, having resided in Malaysia for 10 years out of the 12-year period proceeding the date of the application, and being able to speak fluent Malay.
Akjan said he had gone to the National Registration Department (NRD) to get more information about the announcement, but was told by the officer in charge that the ruling had nothing to do with stateless people in Sabah or those who were made non-citizens due to technicalities.
He said that many people were stateless or non-citizens through no fault of their own, even though they had at least one Malaysian parent.
“I know one couple, the husband is a Malaysian but the wife is not. They got married and had a child before their marriage certificate was issued by the Sabah Islamic Council. Because the child was born before the certificate was issued, the child was declared a non-citizen.
“They have applied for citizenship for this child, even attaching the marriage certificate to show the child was born after their marriage, but their applications were rejected multiple times.
“Each time their application was rejected, the NRD told them to apply again. What is the point of that? What is happening here?” he said.
Akjan said he had hundreds of copies of birth certificates sent to him from all over Sabah asking for his help to solve the problem, including from Chinese, Dusun, Murut as well as Suluk and Bajau people.
He added that the new government should look into the matter as these people had proven that they were Malaysians.
If possible, he said, the home ministry should create a new procedure for people who were made non-citizens due to delays in issuing marriage certificates.
Last month, a coalition of NGOs in the state claimed there were “at least 800,000 stateless people” in Sabah.
The coalition’s head, Nani Sakam, said most of the stateless people lived in remote places and many were the children of indigenous people such as the Rungus, Murut and Dusun.
NGO: Give passes to stateless people, don’t reward illegal immigrants