Citizenship
Although by virtue of their illegal status, illegal immigrants may not apply for Malaysian citizenship, some have attempted to procure it illegally by buying MyKads and passports on the black market. In Sabah, it was reported that 800,000 MyKads had been issued to people who eventually left the state. As Indonesians who have citizenship would be classified as Malay under Article 160 of the Constitution, it has been feared that thousands of illegal immigrants not only received privileges meant for Malaysian citizens, such as the right to vote, but also privileges meant for the Bumiputra, which include allocations of public shares, discounts on real estate, etc.
It has been claimed by opposition politician Jeffrey Kitingan that there are 1.7 million illegals in Sabah, of whom 600,000 have obtained MyKads. Kitingan has accused these illegals of exercising the right to vote, and also of falsely claiming Bumiputra status. There are allegations that there is some form of systematic granting of citizenship which is known as Project IC, or Project M.
Read more about this topic: Illegal Immigrants In Malaysia
Famous quotes containing the word citizenship:
“Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS—our inferior one varies with the place.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
“I would wish that the women of our country could embrace ... [the responsibilities] of citizenship as peculiarly their own. If they could apply their higher sense of service and responsibility, their freshness of enthusiasm, their capacity for organization to this problem, it would become, as it should become, an issue of profound patriotism. The whole plane of political life would be lifted.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“Bohemia is nothing more than the little country in which you do not live. If you try to obtain citizenship in it, at once the court and retinue pack the royal archives and treasure and move away beyond the hills.”
—O. Henry [William Sydney Porter] (1862–1910)