KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Public Complaints Bureau Chief, Wilfred Yap has successfully assisted a father in applying to the High Court for an Order that he is made the legal guardian of the child under his care since birth.
The father had complained that both his name and his wife’s name were not registered in the child’s birth certificate. The child is now eight years old.
The parents did not understand the the procedure and requirements of the process required for adoption and application for Malaysian citizenship for the child.
With the High Court Order of appointment as guardian, Yap proceeded to assist the man to apply to the District Office for the legal adoption of the child under his care.
Through Yap’s assistance, the District Office has approved the man’s application for adoption of the child under his care and SUPP PCB is now assisting the man to register the Certificate of Adoption of the child with the National Registration Department.
After that, Yap will assist the man to apply for Malaysian citizenship for his child.
Yap hopes that Members of Parliament, on the ground of social justice and regardless of whether they are from the Barisan Nasional (BN) or the opposition, will speak out in Parliament on the issue and convince the government to re-look its citizenship policies on stateless children and address the issue of statelessness by amending the current legislation.
He points out that stateless children who are born to a father of Malaysian citizenship will acquire Malaysian citizenship by operation of the law notwithstanding that the marriage of the Malaysian father to a foreign mother is not registered at the time of their child’s birth.
“The SUPP Public Complaints Bureau would like to notify the public that there are many individuals who might be facing similar problems but do not know how to deal with it.
“The bureau is always ready to give advice and lend a helping hand provided it is a genuine case. Anyone requiring assistance can always call the SUPP Public Complaint’s mobile number at 016-7797688 or 082-246999 or go directly to the SUPP Head Office to request for assistance,” says Yap.
