KUCHING: A total of 95 individuals in Sarawak have applied for the Temporary Document for Stateless Individuals (DSITKS) between Jan 1 and May 19 this year.
Sarawak Women, Children and Community Wellbeing Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said of that number, 35 applications had been approved while 60 were rejected for failing to meet the eligibility criteria.
“The rejections were due to, among other things, the absence of birth certificates, birth certificates not registered in Sarawak, failure to apply for citizenship under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution, and applicants being over the age of 21,” she said during her winding-up speech for her ministry at the State Assembly sitting here today.
Fatimah said that in addressing complex citizenship cases, the Sarawak government had also introduced an additional policy involving the inclusion of the “K” indicator on the MyKad of children granted citizenship under Article 15A.
“On Sept 26, 2024, the Sarawak government approved the inclusion of the ‘K’ indicator on the identity cards of children granted citizenship under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution, who are adopted by or whose parents are citizens residing in Sarawak and have the ‘K’ indicator, as an additional policy to be adopted by the National Registration Department (NRD) in Sarawak,” she said.
She added that as of April 30 this year, the Sarawak NRD had received and approved 42 applications for the inclusion of the “K” indicator for the children concerned.
