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Wednesday October 6, 2010
40-year wait finally ends for Ujagar
By MARTIN CARVALHO
[email protected]
MALACCA: It was one of the happiest days of his life for 69-year-old Ujagar Singh – he finally became a Malaysian after waiting for 40 years to receive his citizenship. The sports equipment distributor from Batu Pahat, Johor was all smiles when he was among 80 applicants who were presented their citizenship papers by Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop here yesterday.
“It is the happiest day of my life,” said a beaming Ujagar adding that his father had come to Malay a from India in the 1930s. “I followed suit as a young man in 1958, a year after Merdeka. I waited for the 12-year requirement to pass before submitting my application to become a Malaysian citizen in 1970,” he said when met at the ceremony held at the Home Office Complex.
Happy Malaysians: (From left) Tamby Hussain Yusuf, Ujagar, Wong Chee Teng and V. Janabal showing their citizenship award letters signed by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein at the Home Office Complex in Ayer Keroh yesterday.
He added his application was rejected several times due to his lack of formal education and limited command of Bahasa Malaysia. “I yearned to become a Malaysian and was very disappointed each time the reply letter from the department began with the words Dengan dukacitanya.. (It is with regret ... ),” he added.
He received a telephone call from a department officer in Putrajaya in July to attend an interview and unlike previous applications where formalities were rigid, he said the department was more flexible. He said he was very proud of the fact that his family now represented four generations of Malaysian Sikhs. Another individual Tan Sye Leck, 66, from Bahau, Johor said he started applying to be citizen in 1974.
“I was born during the Japanese occupation and did not have a birth certificate. Although issued with a red identity card, I still felt sad as I was denied recognition as a Malaysian,” he said. At a press conference later, Abu Seman said the National Registration Department had so far processed more than 25,000 Malaysian citizenship applications over the last three years following efforts by the Government to expedite the matter.
