Numbers on Indian statelessness just math gone wrong, says MP

Klang MP Charles Santiago says MIC vice-president T Mohan and former prime minister Najib Razak should stop 'jumping' on the issue.

DAP’s Klang MP Charles Santiago.

PETALING JAYA: Klang MP Charles Santiago today joined the chorus of criticism against the home ministry’s calculations of stateless Indians in the country, urging it to retract its statement on the matter until a proper consensus can be reached.

“Just because 3,853 cases of stateless Indians were recorded doesn’t mean that’s the final figure,” he said, adding that his office alone had recorded hundreds of applications from stateless Indians over a few weeks this year.

In a statement, he said Deputy Home Minister Azis Jamman who had quoted the number in the Dewan Negara yesterday must understand that there were many Indians who were reluctant to submit applications for fear of imprisonment, or who needed help filling up the forms.

Many had also given up as the documentation process for citizenship was tedious and could take years, he added.

“The figure only states the number of applications made. It omits the number of applications pending in the National Registration Department (NRD), the number of rejected applications and further, the real number of statelessness on the ground.”

Prior to the May 9 general election, several Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders had said there were 300,000 stateless Indians in the country.

However, Azis told the Dewan Negara yesterday that there were only 3,853 stateless Indians in Malaysia based on the number of applications received by the ministry.

He was replying to MIC senator T Mohan, who had asked for the actual number of Indians in Malaysia who did not have identification papers.

Former prime minister Najib Razak subsequently accused PH leaders of lying about the number of stateless Indians, saying the figure given by Azis tallied with the number provided by the previous Barisan Nasional administration.

Santigao however said Mohan “should stop jumping” on the matter.

“Feedback from NGOs and activists including our own ground assessment helped us arrive at a higher figure than what the previous government was floating.

“As such, it’s irresponsible to say that we were peddling the figure or that it’s a fairy tale.”

He said it was shameless of MIC and Najib to “twist the story to prove a point”.

He said despite MIC’s repeated “chest thumping” and its efforts to promote itself as “the guardians of the community”, the party had failed to get documents for stateless Indians.

“And to Najib’s Umno, the Indians didn’t matter as that’s not where the votes were.”

He urged officials from the home ministry to work with the NRD to meet the people and get a better sense of the reality on the ground.

“This must be a precursor to children and young adults being given their identity cards so that they can go to school and secure gainful employment in the future.

“While giving out identity cards to those above the age of 60 is a good start, the initiative can’t just stop there,” he said. - FMT

✍ Sumber Pautan : ☕ Malaysians Must Know the TRUTH

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