It was an emotionally charged press conference for the usually cool YB Lo.
A Primary Three pupil, Jordan Tay was forced to pack and asked to go home right in the middle of his lesson last Thursday like a discarded child due to the fact that his mother was from Laos. Jordon’s certificate unfortunately was without any serial number as his parents registered their marriage only after he was born.
Jordan was also asked to return RM300 to the Education department, a RM100 annual education grant meant for poor students.
In an emotional - charged meeting with the media on Tuesday at the Padawan Municipal council, State Assemblyman for Batu Kitang, Lo Khere Chiang who was normally calm and collected, was fumed when hearing of the treatment that Jordan had to leave his classroom in front of his classmates like a criminal. Lo called the action of the Education department a cruel and ruthless act and termed the National Registration heartless to deny Jordan a citizenship when he was born and raised in Sarawak as his father and grandparents are from here.
Jordan aged 9, was bewildered by his tearful grandfather who narrated the heart breaking task the family had taken to apply for Jordan’s citizenship without success for the last nine years. Jordan’s father, Terry said they are only allowed to apply once a year and they had done that four times already . The young boy wheel chair-bounded grandmother who came to show her support to her grandson could only look on in desperation.
“How can this happen? How come an innocent child who was born and grew up in Sarawak did not have a right to an education? And we even have a Minister who was prepared to build schools for Indonesian laborers’ children whose parents work here in Sarawak but we denied our own children from an education,” Lo lamented.
He pointed out that there were many Jordans out there and since he has joined politics, he had been asked for assistance to these stateless children who were born and raised in Sarawak.
He said he himself had gone to the National Registration to seek for answers after advising parents to prepare the necessary documents but rejected . At the counter, Lo said, the officer told him that they had rejected the applicant of a child , Lo was assisting. When he asked what was the reason for rejecting, he was told, there was no reason. When pressed further for answers, the officer told him that the family should seek answers from Putra Jaya.
“It is so absurd to be told that the reason for the rejection is “No Reason”, I do not understand the logic of this,” he said.
In the second strange case, Angelina Bong aged 12 was similar to Jordan. However, her younger brother aged 10 was granted a citizenship. Their mother, an Indonesian only registered their marriage after Angelina was born. Two siblings, one was denied a citizenship due to the lack of a marriage certificate.
Angelina, he pointed out, is growing up and her predicament would be worst then. She would have difficulty getting a job or a sense of belonging and she would even be having a difficult time to travel or get married.
In Sabah, Lo said, there was cases where tens of thousands of foreigners were issued blue identity cards and here in Sarawak, our own people were denied their basic rights.
In the case of Ermawati Kani who was married for 12 years to a Sarawakian, Lo said all she wished for was a blue identity card. He said the application for the card has left a toll on her and she even dare not have any children as she is worried for her future.
Putra Jaya, he added, is not a distance from Serian to Kuching. “These people are poor and earning an honest living to give their children an education. How can they afford to fly to and fro to be interviewed by officers from Putra Jaya. That is why it is time for us to take back our own rights.
Putra Jaya does not understand the hardship of these people,” said Lo. Those federal officials should understand that even visiting local government departments is not easy for those living away from the city. Some have to walk, cross rivers and suffer loss of their daily earnings.
He hoped that by highlighting the plights of these innocent children caught in the web of injustice, the authorities will see to it that the children would be given what rightfully are theirs.
Terry Tay shows the unnumbered birth cert of his son Jordan
Jordan and his family
Angelina with her parents
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