“I would like to inform that for the first phase, we have set a limit of no more than 25,000 applications,” he told reporters after the Menyemai Kasih Rakyat (Mekar) programme with the Siamese community at a Prisons department training centre at the Perlis correctional centre today.

Home ministry secretary-general Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz, national registration department director-general Ruslin Jusoh, Perlis state secretary Hasnol Zam Zam Ahmad and Siamese Association of Malaysia chairman Senator Ak Nan Eh Took were also present.

Hamzah said the Cabinet had previously agreed that applicants need to pay a one-time fee of RM200,000 and a one-time fee of RM100,000 per dependent.

He had indicated that the fees may be increased under the next phase.