Hishammuddin flayed over 'irresponsible' statement

Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has stirred a hornet’s nest in Sabah with his statement that even students with no Malaysian birth certificates could enroll in government schools as long as one parent was Malaysian.

Luyang state assemblyperson Melanie Chia is worried that the minister’s remarks might create a loophole in the system that could be subjected to abuse.

"It will be like opening the floodgates to abuse especially in view of the large number of illegal immigrants in the state," said Chia, who is Sabah People’s Progressive Party (Sapp) women’s chief.

"Under the law, the policy in Sabah is that a child’s nationality is based on the mother’s nationality."

Chia also pointed out that Hishammuddin’s statement clearly contradicted the requirement under the Education Act 1996 for children who are non-citizens to first apply for an ‘Education Licence’ before they can be accepted in schools.

Foreign students need a student visa to study in Malaysia, while the mother of an underaged student is entitled to a social visit pass.

Hishammuddin had described as ‘unfair’ the policy practiced by several schools in Tawau not to accept students into Form One unless they had Malaysian documents.

"As the Education Minister, I wish to state that it is not a policy I approve of. If it really exists, we will change it today itself," he said while visiting SK Balung in Tawau, last Wednesday.

"Such a policy, if it is a policy, is not fair considering the process in getting documents from the National Registration Department (NRD) takes time. The delay on the part of departments and ministries should not be a reason for them not to be accepted into school."

Sepanggar MP Eric Majimbun warned that students with an ‘undetermined status’ are illegal immigrants or stateless people.

"It is very shocking to have a federal minister flying all the way to Sabah and then making such a statement. We do not know what his real intention is, but whatever it is, he is not helping but further complicating the mother-of-all problems in the state," said Majimbun.

"Hishammuddin was referring to people without Malaysian citizenship and most, if not all, are foreigners. It seems that the minister is trying to open the floodgates for more illegal immigrants to come to Sabah."

Bigger issues involved

PKR national vice-president Dr Jeffrey Gimpoi Kitingan wanted the education minister to stop making confusing and contradictory statements, adding that while he empathised with Hishammuddin, the federal government must address the larger question of citizenship and national registration, as these involved the rights of Malaysians in Sabah.

"Our state rights as agreed during the formation of Malaysia must not be compromised," said Jeffrey. "We are supposed to have a certain degree of autonomy and should not be treated like one of the states in Peninsular Malaysia."

Anti-immigration activist Dr Chong Eng Leong, who recently joined PKR, asked why the Malaysian parents of the students concerned did not apply for a Malaysian birth certificate within the specified 40 days or make a late registration of the birth after 40 days.

"Armed with a birth certificate on which it is stated that at least one parent is a Malaysian citizen, that child is a Malaysian citizen by operation of law according to our constitution and the NRD cannot say that the citizenship status of the child is undetermined," said Chong.

Meanwhile, NRD sources said that the department is working on a new mechanism in Putrajaya to automatically register all births in Malaysia to avoid the problem of parents failing to register the births of their children.

The Health Ministry is expected to work closely with the NRD on the automatic registration of births.