LETTERS: It is commendable that the Home Ministry is acting swiftly to seek a resolution to two recent cases involving the automatic granting of citizenship.
The cases involve Suriani Kempe and six others against the Malaysian government, and Mahisha Sulaiha Abdul Majeed against the National Registration Department director-general along with two others over the interpretation of the term "father" in the Second Schedule, Part II, Sections 1 (b) and 1 (c) of the Federal Constitution.
It has been reported that the matter will be brought before Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah and the Conference of Rulers soon.
On the cards is also the possibility of an incumbent constitutional amendment. Both these cases need urgent resolution because, among others, they involve children born overseas to mothers who are Malaysian citizens.
While the authorities continue to explore solutions to these relatively new cases, there is also the long-standing issue of stateless persons which has not been resolved for the past few decades.
I recently highlighted these cases in the media, calling for a swift and judicious resolution to this long-standing issue.
Reader S. Sundareson, a former registrar of citizens at the National Registration Department, has also written to the media, noting that he was aware of the problems faced by those waiting for years for the outcome of their applications.
These applicants in question have lived in this country all their lives. They have no criminal record and comply with all other conditions pertaining to their applications except that they, through no fault of their own, do not possess birth certificates despite using all avenues to do so.
Sundareson concurred with my suggestion that this matter could be resolved if the applicants were to produce a statutory declaration by any person at least 10 years older than them.
While the Home Ministry is looking into the case of children born overseas it is hoped that it will give equal priority to the case of children born in the country and have this matter resolved once and for all in the spirit of Keluarga Malaysia.
Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times