BEAUFORT: The issue of stateless children in Sabah which has protracted for so long should be dealt with jointly by the state and federal governments.
Commenting on the matter, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the government has the platform to address it by activating the Sabah Foreigners Management Committee.
“The main committee level is jointly chaired by the Sabah Chief Minister (Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal) and the Home Minister (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin).
“With this platform, we will not have overlapping roles by setting new committees to coordinate the problem,” she said when met by the media after opening the Beaufort Disaster Evacuation Centre here today.
She said there are similar problems in the Peninsula but at the same time the government has to protect the rights of its citizens as well.
Recently, a private television station revealed a village near a rubbish dump in Sabah which was inhabited by a community including children who did not have citizenship.
Earlier, Wan Azizah officiated the RM5 million disaster evacuation centre for Beaufort district.
She said the centre which was built in December 2016, was completed in June last year with various facilities such as bathrooms, surau, kitchen and an operations room.
“The relief centre will provide victims of floods which occurred frequently here with proper shelter,” she said.
— BERNAMA
