She said the changes, made under Article 15(A) of the Federal Constitution, would mainly affect children born to non-citizen mothers and adoptions that were not properly registered.

“The surge in citizenship applications in Sarawak is largely driven not by age, but by complex cases involving ‘illegitimate’ children born to non-citizen mothers and adoptions without proper legal registration,” TVS reported her as saying.

Fatimah also said many cases involved children born outside of legal marriage or who lacked proper registration, with common origins including the Philippines, China, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

“Those who registered their marriage overseas are advised to ensure proper registration in Malaysia upon their return,” she said.

Fatimah also said unregistered adoptions created major documentation gaps, prompting the formation of the Sarawak Special Committee on Citizenship Status to fast-track such cases.

“The special committee will process these cases much more quickly than before,” she added.