MyDaftar a failure, issues 'useless' papers to stateless
PKR today slammed the MyDaftar campaign, saying it failed to address its goal of helping stateless Malaysian-born Indians.
PKR today slammed the MyDaftar campaign which it says failed to address its goal of helping Malaysian-born Indians who are stateless. 
At a press conference today, PKR vice-president N Surendran used the case of two stateless orphans to back this claim.
The two orphans were given birth certificates after their plight was highlighted to MyDaftar campaign operators, but, Surendran said, those documents were "useless papers".
He said the document state that their citizenship status was "yet to be determined", thus preventing from them from getting a MyKad or enrolling in school.
“When they (National Registration Department, BN and MIC) said 9,529 people were issued with MyDaftar documents, are these the documents they meant? Now we see proof of a massive scam,” Surendran said.
R Moganadass, a volunteer at the Agathias shelter where the two orphans are residing, said the duo were picked up from the streets about six years ago.
He said nothing was known about their past, but Hari (left) is presumed to be 14-years-old and Haran (above, right) is 12. The two are being homeschooled by volunteers at the shelter.
Speaking to reporters later, Haran said he wants to become a street dancer because it was “cool”, while Hari said he aspires to be teacher, but wants to become a cook instead in view of his lack of education.
Demonstration threat
The MyDaftar campaign was a joint, nationwide effort between the Prime Minister’s Department and the Home Ministry to identify and register stateless Indians.
Also present at the press conference was 15-year old Suriati, who could not enter secondary school without a MyKad, which was denied by the NRD because her father’s particulars were not available.
“Her mother is a citizen. She’s got a blue MyKad, but there is no particulars of her father... Her mother has gone to NRD. They have refused (to issue Suriati a MyKad) because they said her father’s particulars are not available.
“It is illegal. Under Article 14 of the Federal Constitution, as Suriati (left) is entitled to a MyKad,” said Surendran.
However, the birth certificate recorded her mother’s citizenship status as “information not obtained”.
He also pointed out that under the same law, a person born in Malaysia who does not have citizenship in another country is automatically entitled to a Malaysian citizenship.
He demanded that the government resolve the issue in 48 hours or face demonstrations in Alor Setar, Kedah, on June 10 and in Ipoh, Perak, on June 15.
Surendran added that there was yet to be a response from the Prime Minister’s Office on PKR’s memo on the citizenship of student Reshina Batumanathan, who was expelled from school because she does not have a MyKad.
NRD head slammed
Surendran also criticised NRD director-general Jariah Mohd Said, whom he said was quoted in the Tamil press today denying PKR’s statement that there about 300,000 stateless persons in Malaysia.
“A bold statement that is unsubstantiated. She just denied it. Our statement is backed by population studies,” he said.
He also chastised Jariah for her purported statement that, “Red IC (for permenant residents) is also a legitimate document, just that you can’t vote.”
“As far as they are concerned, just give them the red MyKad, which means that they can’t go to school, they can’t get proper jobs, they can’t go to university, but Jariah doesn’t care,” said Surendran.
PKR legal bureau director Latheefa Koya (seated on the right) said instead of issuing challenges for PKR to bring the 300,000 people to NRD, Jariah should clarify and explain the department’s policy on issuing blue MyKad to undocumented persons, or make one if there is no such policy.
Latheefa stressed that these are not applications for citizenship under Article 19 of the federal constitution, but merely applications for documents to recognise them as citizens.
Asked to explain the background to the issue, Surendran said the issue of statelessness affects all races, especially people in the remote areas.
However, Malaysian Indians were worst hit, many of them being former estate workers who become dispossessed when the estates were closed.
