DUN Sarawak: Enhanced efforts to address non-citizen children

KUCHING, Oct 14: The Sarawak Government will step up efforts to reduce the number of children born in the state but registered as non-citizens through awareness campaigns, community dialogue and self-identification document management assistance.

Sarawak Minister of Women, Child Development and Community Welfare Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said that among the measures to be taken is to promote legal marriage registration under Malaysian law.

"To mitigate this issue, the government will hold a dialogue session with the community and an awareness campaign to promote legal marriage registration under Malaysian law", he said.

He said this while answering the question of Member of the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Engkilili, Dr Johnical Rayong Ngipa at the 19th Sarawak State Legislative Assembly Conference today.

According to Fatimah, the government also helps mothers who were born in Sarawak but do not have identification documents for obtaining them through channels and procedures set out under the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance (Chapter 10).

"For non-citizen mothers, the government encourages the management and updating of valid travel documents as well as ensuring that birth documentation is managed in an orderly manner", he said.

He said, for children who are found or abandoned, registration matters will be coordinated with relevant authorities, including the National Registration Department (NDP) to determine their status and documentation according to the law.

According to JPN records, a total of 224 children born in Sarawak were registered as non-citizens for the period January to August 2026.

Fatimah said that among the main factors leading to children being registered as non-citizens or given pink birth certificates is parents' marriages which are not registered or not recognised under Malaysian law.

Other factors include mothers who do not have valid identification documents as well as cases of found or abandoned children.