S’wak govt urged to extend stateless folk registration

THE Sarawak government has been urged to extend its mobile counter services for the registration of stateless folks due to the overwhelming response so far.

Social activist Willie Kajan said the services should be extended till December as there was still a large number of stateless men, women, children and elderly in the state.

A mobile registration counter which was set up at the Miri Civic Centre from November 20 till today saw stateless people travelling to the city from as far away as the remote Baram settlements.

However, many were left disappointed as the counter staff could only attend to a handful of these stateless folks daily.

Kajan, who visited the registration counter this morning, said many of these stateless folks came to Miri and some even spent the night on the streets to get registered by the National Registration Department, the District Office and Resident Office.

“Every day, the staff manning the counters attended to hundred of applications.

“The mobile counters at the Miri Civic Centre should extend their operations until further notice since there are hundreds who could not make it on time,” he said.

Kajan said he knows many of these stateless folks who are from the deep Baram longhouses.

“They came in the hundreds every day and many slept along the streets near the Dewan Suarah just to queue up early.

“It is very clear that the mobile counter team were unprepared for such a big crowd everyday without birth certificates and MyKads,” he said.

On July 24, this special joint-committee on citizenship registration for stateless Sarawakians formed by the Federal and local governments were told to be more aggressive in seeking out those in rural areas who are without birth certificate and identity card.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail on that day said he wants to see more mobile units deployed into the remote interiors of this vast state. – The Vibes, November 30, 2023.