Sarawak ministry approves 225 applications for temporary personal documents for the stateless

KUCHING (Aug 17): A total of 225 new applications for Temporary Personal Documents for Individuals Without Citizenship in Sarawak (DSITKS) have been approved.

In stating this, Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Sarawak Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said her ministry received 715 DSITKS applications between Nov 1, 2022 and Aug 16 this year, adding that 306 applications had been processed during a special committee meeting held recently.

“Out of the 306 applications, 225 were approved, while 81 were rejected.

“One of the reasons why some applications were rejected was due to the use of false documents during the submission process,” she said when met by reporters after attending the handing-over ceremony at a hotel here today.

Adding on, Fatimah reminded all that while the DSITKS, implemented by the state government, would allow holders to enjoy benefits such as access to healthcare and education, it must not be regarded as a full citizenship document or a promise of Malaysian citizenship.

“As of July 2024, the ministry continues to raise awareness of and advocate on the issue of identification documents, with the DSITKS applications through 48 different outreach programmes having been planned for this year,” she said.

At the same event, Fatimah handed over DSITKS certificates to seven recipients, all of whom are individuals under the age of 21.

Also present were deputy minister Datuk Rosey Yunus and the ministry’s permanent secretary Datu Felicia Tan.