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Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email In the “developed” state of Selangor, we have such a serious situation. 10% of students from 4 tamil schools in Puchong don’t have birth certificate. Just imagine states like Kedah, Perak, NS, Malacca who have schools in rural areas. The lives of the kids will be full of misery.
The party that claims to be sole representatives of the Indian community, and the champion of Indian community is to be held liable. Election candidates can do wonders during election campaigns, entering jungles and estates, posing for photos in middle of jungle or rice fields, doing gotong-royong with kampung folks etc. But after election, everything is forgotten. People are still left hoping for change.
Obviously the irresponsible men who don’t want to register their marriages are also to be blamed. This happens to unregistered/illegal marriages (polygamy cases usually). This happens to folks who are in outskirts, uneducated, and lack access to information.
Spot Light: Hope for the ‘stateless’ at last
THE move to address the problem of “statelessness” among Malaysian-born Indians has given hope to thousands who have felt “alienated” in the only country they have ever known.
Many who did not know the magnitude of the problem are surprised that up to 40,000 Indian children in Selangor alone do not have birth certificates.
At the core of the issue is the failure to register births due to the refusal of fathers to own up to siring the children. Some parents also do not register children within the prescribed 14-day period and do not do so after that due to unfounded fears of a large fine.
There was a huge sigh of relief among the community and the MIC when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Abdullah Ahmad Badawi recently instructed Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad to form a task force to address the problem of “stateless” children.
National Registration Department public relations officer Jainisah Mohd Noor, explaining the department’s policy on registration of births, said all births were registered as long as there was proof that the child was born in Malaysia. Verification of the birth could be done by the ketua kampung, a commissioner for oaths or two witnesses. “Even if the child’s father cannot be traced, we will register the birth as long as there is evidence that the child was born in Malaysia,” Jainisah said.
No one is more pleased with Abdullah’s announcement than Shelter Home executive director James Nayagam, who sees an average of three “stateless” children a week. He was equally shocked by the menteri besar’s figure which was double of that he had estimated. “I am thankful to the menteri besar for highlighting the issue. It restores my confidence in the system. We have been fighting for years to get some kind of identity for these children.”
Nayagam, who sits on the Council for the Welfare and Protection of Children, said giving the children proper identification documents would lift them out of poverty and other social problems later. “An adult without proper documents can’t get a proper job or get married legally. If he or she do get married and have children, chances are the children’s birth will not be registered. “Without documents, the child can’t go to school and he or she will end up living off the streets. It becomes a vicious cycle.”
Nayagam is concerned over the government’s decision to stop issuing green ICs since 2004. This, he said, meant that thousands of abandoned children in orphanages would have no proof of identity.
MIC Youth Social and Welfare bureau chief T. Mohan said the setting up of the task force to look into the matter was timely. The bureau’s recent survey on four Tamil primary schools in Puchong revealed that about 10 per cent of the 400 to 500 students did not have birth certificates. “And we have 500 Tamil primary schools in the country. And this does not include those who have left school and those who have yet to go to school.”
He said 99 per cent of the children were “stateless” because of the negligence of their parents. “In most cases, the children were born out of wedlock with the father refusing to come forward to register the birth and abandoning the family. “Some single mothers tried to register the child later and then gave up because of the red tape involved, especially if the registration is done after 42 days. “It can sometimes take a few years to get the registration done and many, including the non-governmental organisations, give up after a while.”
Beginning next month, Mohan said the bureau would visit each state and identify those who needed help to apply for their identification documents.
Retired assistant director of the Social Welfare Department Vijayakumari Pillai said the problem was more peculiar among the Indian community because of their complacency towards the issue. “Perhaps they have more pressing bread and butter issues to deal with that they do not see the importance of documenting the child’s birth until it is rather late.”
