KUCHING: A total of 32 citizenship applications under Article 15A were presented during the Sarawak Special Committee on Citizenship Status (JKKSK) meeting with applications involving illegitimate children continuing to make up the largest category.
Minister for Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development, Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah, said 21 of the applications involved illegitimate children, followed by 10 guardianship cases and one adoption case.
“Most of the applications for illegitimate children came from Kuching, followed by Miri, Engkilili, Bau, Sri Aman and Serian.
“If we look at the mothers’ nationalities – the country of origin of the biological mothers – 13 were from Indonesia. There were three cases where information was unavailable.
“Three were from the Philippines, one from China, and one from Vietnam, making a total of 21. In terms of gender, there were eight females and 13 males,” she said.
She said this during a press conference after chairing the meeting at Tun Datuk Patinggi Tuanku Haji Bujang building, Jalan Simpang Tiga, here today (May 8).
Fatimah said the category referred to children born before a legally registered marriage, resulting in them inheriting the citizenship status of their mothers if the mothers were non-citizens.
She also said 15 of the applications were first-time submissions, while the rest involved second, third and fourth attempts.
She stressed that the committee’s role was to facilitate and verify applications before forwarding recommendations to the Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN).
“Our role is to assist in processing the applications. When the National Registration Department (NRD) receives applications at the counter, they have checklists, and applicants are informed if anything is missing or incomplete.
“Finally, as discussed earlier, we also review the merits of each application and recommend whether the committee should support or not support it.
“All final decisions on citizenship applications remain subject to existing policies, regulations and mechanisms currently in force, and they fall under the authority of the ministry,” she said.
According to Fatimah, the total number of applications received under Article 15A from 2024 until May 8 this year stood at 314, with 191 involving illegitimate children.
She also said that from 2023 to 2024, 141 applications had been approved and were currently undergoing certificate processing in Putrajaya, a process which takes about one month.
She noted that the current processing period was significantly shorter compared to before the committee was formed.
Fatimah also observed a decline in monthly applications, which she attributed to growing public awareness about the importance of properly registering marriages, especially involving foreign spouses.
“If the marriage is legally registered and the child is born after the marriage, the child automatically becomes a Malaysian citizen and there is no need to apply through this committee,” she said.
She urged Malaysians marrying foreigners to ensure their marriages were properly registered both overseas and in Malaysia to avoid citizenship complications for their children.
