Batu Kitang State Assemblyman, Lo Khere Chiang took to task the weakness in the policies of the National Registration department (NRD) this afternoon – asking civil servants to walk their talk and the leaders of the country to interfere if the NRD is unable to solve the stateless children welfare.
Speaking at the press conference with four families of three minors and two young adults who are brothers, Lo took the NRD to task for their inefficiency of doing their duty.
Lo was clearly upset when he said Sarawak born children with a parent who is foreigner were treated with contempt and a discard by the NRD who to their whims and fancy, will only give them proper documents.
He could not understand himself how the policies work and showed examples of the torture the families have to undergo to get their children proper documents when their parents registered their marriage late.
Lo gave an example of Jong Chee Kiat who has an elder sister and two younger brothers. The elder sister aged 18 was able to get her mykad at age 12. Chee Kiat aged 17 who was born in Kuching was not able to get a proper birth certificate and has no mykad. Surprisingly, Chee Kiat two younger brothers aged 9 and 11 were able to get both their birth certificates and mykad numbers.
Two years ago, Lo said he went with Chee Kiat to the NRD and was told that they have to wait for Putra Jaya’s decision. “Two years passed by and there is still no answer. Worst is that the NRD here said Chee Kiat needs to get his citizenship. What citizenship are they talking about. The boy is born here to a Sarawakian father in Kuching,” fumed Lo.
He said Chee Kiat’s younger brothers were able to get their document so what was so special about Chee Kiat to be denied one. Lo said till today, he could not explain the logic why Chee Kiat was rejected but his Singapore born siblings were able to.
Another case involved two brothers, 25 year old, Tsen Xiao Yue and 27 year Shu Shien, who both were unable to get their birth certificate and mykad. Their parents registered their marriage late. Both brothers were born in Sarawak general hospital. Strangly enough, both were able to go to government schools and Xiao Yue dropped out of school in Form Two while his older brother completed Form 5.
Their father with them said both are working now but were unable to contribute to EFP or SOSCO or Income tax as they both were without documents. The father said they were unable to get their documents as he was told he registered their birth too late after two weeks.
Chan May Ly aged 8 was born out of wedlock. His father said after three months of the birth of his daughter, he registered his marriage to his Indonesian wife. By then, the NRD has rejected his application and gave May Ly a birth certificate with no serial number. This will make her life difficult as she will not be able to get her mykad or a citizenship.
His father, Chan who is self employed said for the last eight years, he has relentlessly pursed the case and is a familiar face at the NRD.
He said he was told by the staff in NRD to call Putra Jaya hotline which he did for more than 100 times in the 8 years. “Even the last few days, he has been making attempts to call the Putra Jaya in vain.
When he consulted the NRD in Sarawak, he was told that they need their boss for the approval.
For seven year old Lee Lee Yuan, life is bleak for him as he too did not have a proper birth certificate as his mother is an Indonesian who has abandoned the son.
The father never registered the marriage and the son was taken care by the father and elderly grandparents.
Lo said he is part of the government where the system has not been right. “I want to say I am not against the government. I am elected by the people to represent them to help them. If I do not play my role, I failed as a YB,” he said.
He said he need to speak out for the innocent children through no fault of theirs to be penalised by the unjust system. “I want to appeal to the civil servants in the NRD, to do what they should be doing to help these children. They are born here. What more proof do they want. You cannot ask their parents to contact PUTRA JAYA. Then what is the whole point of having NRD in Sarawak? Don’t tell me that your existence is irrelevant and you cannot do your job but to ask the parents to do the follow up.
Technology is so advance these days, there is the mobile phone, whatsapp, email, wechat, name it – you can communicate with your superior in whatever means you want. Or is there a break down of communication between Sarawak NRD and Putra Jaya” he wondered.
All these cases, he pointed out, which there may affect thousands of Sarawak children, showed the weakness of the NRD for not performing their duty to help the people. “The explanations given by NRD are far reaching ridiculous mostly with ‘no reason’ or wait for Putra Jaya.
What I have explained of the cases above show their incompetency to do their job. I appeal to the leaders of the country to step in if the department is unable to perform,” he said.
Lo said he may be called a busy body for taking up the case but he wants the children to have a secure future, to have an education and a good citizen of Malaysia and not one with uncertainties.
He hoped that the NRD Sarawak will really get down to work this time and dealt with the issue once and for all.
No comments:
Post a Comment