Wednesday, October 22, 2008

THURSDAY-23 OCTOBER 2008- LET PUBLIC KNOW HOW SPECIAL UNIT WORKS: PKR SABAH

Let public know how Special Unit works: PKR Sabah

KOTA KINABALU:

Party Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah welcomes the announcement by Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar on the setting up of a Special Unit to ensure that the “backlogged” applications for citizenship and resident status in Sabah would be cleared quickly. “This is good news for the thousands of applicants living in Sabah who had waited for decades in their applications for citizenship. This is a long overdue decision which the Federal Government never resolved for whatever reason until we brought it up recently,” said Christina Liew of PKR Sabah Public Complaint Bureau. “While we agree that the Home Ministry needs to scrutinize the documents before the issuance of the citizenship, it is not known why it has to take 20 or 30 years to do so. “Nevertheless, it is a relief that finally the Home Ministry recognized the Sabah ‘backlogged’ application and is now setting up Special Unit to process the application,” she said. “We call on the National Registration Department and Jhe Immigration Departments to inform the public by way of a dialogue or seminar on how the Special Unit is going to expedite their application. “This is the most effective way of getting to the targeted applicants in their effort to clear their backlogged applications,” Liew added.