Deputy minister: Home Ministry resolves 306 Sarawak Article 15A citizenship cases since 2024, 416 still pending

On November 2, the Deputy Home Minister informed the Dewan Rakyat that Sarawak received 722 citizenship applications under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution from 2024 to September 2026. Of these, 306 cases have been finalized, with 225 approved and 18 rejected. The remaining 416 applications are still under processing and are expected to be reviewed by the State-Level Special Committee on Citizenship Status this year.

Statelessness remains a pressing issue in Sarawak, particularly among remote indigenous communities residing in challenging terrains. Most of the statelessness cases involve children born to local indigenous mothers and foreign fathers, adopted children, or those whose parents faced delays in legalizing their marriages. Civil society groups have repeatedly emphasized that without timely birth registration, obtaining late birth certificates becomes a daunting bureaucratic task, leaving individuals stateless from infancy.

Article 15A grants the federal government special discretionary powers to register individuals under 18 as citizens under unique circumstances.