Give DNA reports serious consideration in cases of statelessness, says Sandakan MP

KOTA KINABALU: Genetic ancestry identification or DNA reports should be seriously considered and used in solving statelessness in the country, says Sandakan MP Vivian Wong.

She said the Home Ministry should consider this as statelessness and late birth registrations are issues in Sabah and the country as a whole.

“The report can be used as a proof of identity or ancestry and this is to solve the matter at hand, apart from being fair to applicants,” she said in a statement on Thursday (Oct 12).

She had raised this matter to the Deputy Home Minister during the special chamber sitting in the Dewan Rakyat, and had asked for a report on how many citizenship applications have been made between 2017 and September 2023.

Wong asked about the success rates of these applications, how long it took the Home Ministry to process each case and whether the ministry accepted genetic ancestry identification reports as proof.

She had also asked how cases could be solved when the applicants were over 21-years-old and how the ministry planned to solve this long-standing issue holistically.

Wong had said during the sitting that she had received 120 applications for help through her tenure as an MP.

“I am sure these are just part of the number and that there are still many unsolved cases, with many still waiting for a response to their citizenship status and applications,” said Wong.

She said there are bound to be many cases where applicants gave up when their applications were turned down or rejected, adding that the applicants are not in the wrong in many cases because their parents failed to register their marriage prior to the birth of their children.

Wong said in instances where the father of the applicant is Malaysian, he or she should by right be a citizen by birth.

“Do we want to continue letting these people remain stateless for the rest of their lives due to something that is not their fault,” she said.

Wong then added that there were also cases where the younger siblings of the applicant were citizens.

“They are born in the country, they speak our language and share our culture,” said Wong.

She said based on the response by the Deputy Home Minister, citizenship status and applications all depended on the decision of the executive power of the Federal Government.

Wong added that the Federal Constitution also clearly stated that only children of legally married couples could be considered as citizens of the country.

“For couples who do not meet the requirements, their children would have to follow the citizenship of the foreign mother,” Wong said.

She said in these cases, the DNA or genetic report were only used as supporting documents.

She said between 2017 and September 2023, there were a total of 22,582 citizenship applications out of which, a total of 6,046 are from Sabah.

“The success rate of these numbers in Sabah is low, with only 50 cases (3%) approved in Sandakan while 443 were rejected, 89 applications objected to and 1,045 still under process,” Wong said.

Wong said with such a low success rate, many would not be able to get their citizenship.

“I urge the government to adopt a more efficient approach in solving this issue because these are genuine Malaysians who have been deprived of their right to education, healthcare and many other aspects just because of their ‘stateless’ status,” she said.