KUALA LUMPUR: The MCA has set up the Citizenship Task Force Service Centre to compile cases of those having difficulties with their Malaysian citizenship application.
The cases will then be handed over to the Home Ministry.
The centre's national coordinator Dr Jeffrey Goh said there many with strong cases who were referred to the Home Ministry but they failed to get citizenship.
As the result, there was uneasiness among these people because some of them had waited for 40 years for their citizenship while the Indonesians who were here for five years had received theirs, he said.
"There should be a transparent standard criteria for the applications," he said.
Dr Goh said they would first open the Federal Territory centre for a month, beginning Saturday.
Those affected could fill in the survey forms and hand over photocopies of their identity card, birth certificate, citizenship application receipt and related documents, he said.
The forms will be sent out to MCA division branches at every state in stages, he added.
Most of the cases MCA received were from those who did not register their marriages to foreign spouses and children born out of wedlock, he said.
"It is important to give citizenships to these vulnerable groups because when their husbands leave them, the foreign spouses cannot renew their visas and will be deported and the children sent to orphanages," he said.
Goh also advised young people to register their marriages with foreign spouses.
Currently, there were 50,000 to 60,000 people having problems with citizenship applications in the country, he said.
For enquiries, please call Dr Goh at 012-381 2160.
Forms can also be downloaded from
www.mcawp.org.my
