A PROGRAMME to explain and educate those without citizenship, birth certificates, marriage certificates, permanent resident status and others on June 30 in Johor has been postponed as a result of the attempts by UMNO and PAS to politicise it along racial lines.
The programme was supposed to educate, elucidate and explain especially to those in the B40 category on how to apply for identity documents such as citizenship, permanent residentship, birth certificates and others.
The programme was not meant to replace of the National Registration Department (NRD) nor it had any relationship with this department.
I remember when I was Penang’s former deputy chief minister II, I was given permission by the Penang state government to set up a Citizenship Unit in 2013 with a small staff to assist those in need of identity documents.
The aim was to assist applicants as to how to fill up applications forms and how to submit them to the National Registration Department (NRD). But the actual applications to the NRD was by the applicants themselves.
The unit functioned as a mere guide or facilitator. When I left the party and the government in August 2023, the unit’s coordinator was Yeap Choon Keong who is currently in-charge of the programme.
During those days, the success rate was less than 10% for every 100 applications with the long gestation period. Before I left the government, applicants who had applied in 2013 were still waiting. It was quite common for the applications to be rejected and the process of re-application takes place.
Due to cumbersome bureaucracy in the NRD, applicants for identity documents have to wait for a long period. After some time, the applicants lose interest and just give up.
Limited success
The Citizenship Unit under the Penang state government had no relationship with the NRD on the matter of obtaining identity documents. It was a centre where the applicants will be assisted in forwarding their applications to the NRD.
The granting of identity document remains the sole preserve of the NRD. The unit in Penang was the voluntary initiative on the part of the state government to assist those who are without identity papers. It was placed under my portfolio.
There is no such thing that the unit was achieving tremendous success within a short period of time till raising suspicions that something fishy was going on.
During my time, most of the applicants were from the B40 Indians category. There were also significant Chinese applicants as well as small number of Malays.
Over the years, hundreds of those without the identity documents have come to see me to narrate their difficulties in obtaining jobs, getting the children to be registered in schools and having their marriage legally certified.
If only the NRD had taken more humane approach to resolve the issue of statelessness, there is no need for the setting up of voluntary bodies to assist people who are drifting aimlessly in the country.
It was painful to see young children not attending schools because they do not have birth certificates. Husbands and wives are separated in different countries because there is no documentation certifying their marriage legality. Hundreds and thousands of individuals – young and old – are without citizenship although they are eligible by law.
After Yeap became the coordinator of the citizenship in Penang, I was the person who encouraged him to assist other voluntary statelessness initiatives in other states.
The postponed statelessness programme in Johor was to be assisted by Yeap with his years of experience in Penang.
UMNO, PAS politicising issue
I had brief conversation with Yeap over the phone. He was upset that the statelessness program in Johore was politicised beyond imagination.
The criticisms from PAS and UMNO are below the belt. There is no such thing that the statelessness initiatives are for Chinese nationals to gain citizenship. How this kind of allegation was thrown around seems mind boggling.
There is no such thing as the statelessness programme was meant to replace or replicate the functions of the NRD. This was something wild and bizarre! The NRD is pretty much intact and cumbersome as usual.
The divisive forces even interpreted the programme as an attempt to usurp the sovereign of the NRD which comes under the Home Ministry.
PAS and UMNO might not like DAP but such an abhorrence shouldn’t be translated in creating and perpetuating falsehoods of the work related to assisting the forlorn individuals in the country to seek the much-needed identity documents.
I am not fond of DAP leadership either but I will firmly support the numerous initiatives of DAP or PKR or any political parties or civil society organisations to address the issue of statelessness in the country.
I don’t understand why the Johor programme on statelessness had to be postponed just because the right-wing Malay forces wanted to politicise it along racial lines.
If I was involved, I would have defied them or invited the “ethnic” champions to the programme itself.
Even if these statelessness initiatives are undertaken by political parties, there is nothing political in them. They are just humane voluntary efforts to speed up the process of procuring the much-needed identity documents.
Maybe, UMNO and PAS should ask the government of the day as to why the problem of statelessness continues to persist in the country. Why does the problem remain unsolved for many years?
If the NRD had been doing its job, then there is no necessity for the emergence of these voluntary initiatives to assist the problem of statelessness. – June 10, 2024
Former DAP stalwart and Penang chief minister II Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is chairman of the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim council.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
