Govt: Stateless BOCs can apply again to be Malaysians

2009/10/13

By Farrah Naz Karim

PUTRAJAYA: Think through before concluding that the grass is greener on the other side, because once you want out, you stay out.

This is the advice of Immigration director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman to Malaysians giving up their citizenship to assume another.

He was commenting on a news report that hundreds of Malaysians, who had given up their citizenship with the hope of becoming British citizens on the basis of the British Overseas Citizenship (BOC) status, are now stateless.

Rahman said their cases were not exclusive as there had been scores of citizens from countries which were British colonies, who did the same.

A report by AFP says that many former Malaysians tore up their passports and set off for Britain in the belief they could claim citizenship under the colonial law.

It quoted Immigration activists in London as saying that a few hundred Malaysians, who took up citizenship, were eventually granted the right after residing in Britain for more than five years in the 1980s and 1990s.

There’s nothing much the government can do, but if they want to become Malaysians again, they will have to apply for it under normal procedures. - Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman Immigration director-general

Under the little known legal clause, residents of Penang and Malacca were given the status of BOC when Malaysia gained independence in 1957.

However, with the tightening of Immigration laws in 2002, it ended any chance for Malaysian BOCs to register as British citizens.

Rahman said under the Citizenship Act, once a Malaysian renounced his citizenship, he was simply no longer a Malaysian.

"They made the decision fully aware of the consequences and risk.

"There's nothing much the government can do, but if they want to become Malaysians again, they will have to apply for it under normal procedures.

"Citizenship is a privilege, not a right," he told the New Straits Times yesterday.

National Registration Department director-general Alwi Ibrahim said a meeting was held last week with Wisma Putra and the Home Ministry to discuss the predicament of these people.

Some of the BOC applicants were told that their applications could not proceed unless they showed they had lost their Malaysian citizenship.

The news report also quoted a former architect, "Dee" from Penang, who is now washing dishes at a Chinese restaurant, that he had filled up forms to renounce his Malaysian citizenship and had his passport cut-up.

Now in a lurch, Dee said while he had given up his nationality, the British government declared that he was still Malaysian, leaving him practically stateless.

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein says people who renounced their citizenship must understand the severity of their action before renouncing their citizenship

In Putrajaya, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said people who had renounced their Malaysian citizenship would be treated the same way as any foreigner when they applied for it.

And it could be even harder as their applications would cast doubts on their intentions and loyalty to the country, he added.

Hishammuddin said it was sad that there were people who renounced their citizenship without understanding the severity of their action.

"When they realise that the situation in the other country was not what they had hoped for, it is not easy to reverse their decision. I hope that people can take this as a lesson."