Monday May 10, 2010
Orphan lad Edwin set to be a Malaysian at last
SIBU: Life has been difficult for 17-year old Edwin Tiong, who is considered “stateless” as he does not have a birth certificate.
Tiong is an orphan and has been adopted. One of the things his adoptive parents could not get for him was a birth certificate and that has caused complications when he wanted to sit for public examinations.
However, his problem could soon come to an end.
Tiong and 73 other “stateless” people here have sent their applications for citizenship to Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammudin Tun Hussein through the Barisan Nasional candidate for the Sibu by-election, Robert Lau Hui Yew.
According to Datuk Lau Yeng Peng , a special officer to the ministry, most of the applicants had submitted their applications many years ago and some have waited for over 30 years. The oldest applicant is 87 years old.
“We will hand over their applications to Datuk Seri Hishammudin on May 15 when he comes here to officiate the ministry’s open day at the Sibu Gateway. We hope he would bring some good news for the applicants,” he said.
Lau said the ministry would process the application but priority would be given to the elderly and those who were still in school.
He said the ministry was trying to shorten the waiting period as the goverment was very concerned with the plight of the stateless.
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