KUALA LUMPUR: More than 17,000 marriages between Malaysian men and female China nationals were unregistered between 2011 and 2015.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the Dewan Rakyat today that in comparison, the number of registered marriages between local men and China nationals in the same period totaled only 11,263.
“Based on the registered marriages, as many as 9,197 children were born in that period,” said Zahid, who is also Home Minister.
He said among the key problems that arise due to unregistered marriages is that the offspring cannot be registered as Malaysians.
“This creates problems. When these children grow up, the mothers would have left the country and returned to their homeland, leaving the child’s relatives here with the task of appealing for verification of the child’s status so they can go to school,” he said.
He said if there are any applications, the Home Ministry would review them on a case-by-case basis and humanitarian grounds to issue the birth certificates. --Bernama