Sarawak senator says fed govt will ensure state native children without citizenship attend school

KUCHING, March 31 — Sarawak PKR deputy chairman Senator Abun Sui Anyit today said that the federal government will do its best to ensure that indigenous native children in Sarawak who are without Malaysian citizenship certificates go to schools.

He said this is the assurance Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim gave during a special meeting with the state PKR leadership in a hotel before flying off to Kuala Lumpur, after a brief visit to the state last night.

“The prime minister has stressed that the Ministry of Education (MoE) will make it easier for these children, who have not attended school all this time due to the citizenship problem, to be allowed to attend schools,” Abun said in a statement.

The meeting was also attended by Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek.

Abun said the prime minister had assured that a circular on the issue would need to be worked out immediately so that these children would not be left out of schools.

“The Ministry of Home Affairs, through the National Registration Department, must immediately do its best to solve the document problem of these children throughout Sarawak.

“Hopefully we will be able to witness the outcome as soon as possible so that these children can go to school and obtain their respective citizenship,” he said.

He said the issue of indigenous children without citizenship certificates and other official documents was brought up at the meeting for the prime minister to find solutions.

Anwar, Fadhlina and Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad were in Kuching yesterday to attend the federal-state meeting, after which they attended the breaking of fast in Kota Samarahan.

The federal-state meeting was also attended by Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof and Deputy Premiers Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah and Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian.