KUALA LUMPUR: A former MP claims that the 98 per cent approval rate for citizenship applications provided by Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail is not accurate.
In a statement, N. Surendran, who is also the Lawyers for Liberty advisor, said that the approved 142 applications from 2014 to 2023 is "starkly contrary to the experience of activists, NGOs, and individual stateless persons who have made repeated unsuccessful applications".
Pointing out that despite Saifuddin's claim that every foundling application is approved, numerous cases filed are still pending in courts.
For example, Surendran added that Saifuddin's figure for 142 foundling applications over a decade pales in comparison to what the police have recorded, which has seen 149 cases of live babies abandoned or dumped in just four years between 2018 and 2021.
He questioned Saifuddin's methodology in producing the numbers as it seemed not to account for the diverse challenges faced by stateless individuals, such as those encountered in actual community work to resolve statelessness.
"Does it take into account those whose applications have been repeatedly rejected and have stopped trying?
"Did Saifuddin's methodology take into account all these categories which activists and NGOs have been regularly encountering for decades in their work among the stateless?" he added.
He said that Saifuddin's method is flawed both quantitatively and qualitatively as it fails to align with the actual challenges faced by stateless individuals, thereby weakening his defence of the citizenship bill.
"If what he says is correct, and people do not face any difficulties in applying for citizenship from the NRD (National Registration Department), there would not be so many stateless persons in the country, without identification papers at all or with green or red ICs although born in this country and are not citizens of any other country.
"The 98 per cent approval rate claimed by the minister is inconsistent with the number of cases that are being seen in the country," Surendran said in a statement today.
Surendran added that stateless individuals endure countless rejections, and living on the fringes of society is evidence of a flawed system.
"The only right and decent thing for the government to do is to withdraw those proposed amendments to the constitution which remove the safeguards in section 1(e) of the 2nd Schedule of the Constitution and section 19B," he said.
On March 8, the cabinet gave the green light for the proposal over the Federal Constitution amendment involving citizenship, to be tabled in parliament this week.
Following which, Lawyers for Liberty director, Zaid Malek said could jeopardise the future of stateless children and generations to come, said Lawyers for Liberty.
