Efforts To Address Birth Documentation Issues Among Children In Sarawak Intensified
KUCHING: A total of 224 children born in Sarawak were registered as non-citizens from January to August 2026, according to records from the National Registration Department (JPN).
Minister for Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said the figure was part of the 2,010 birth registrations recorded as non-citizens in Sarawak from 2022 to August 2026.
“Based on National Registration Department (JPN) records, 224 people born in Sarawak were registered as non-citizens from January to August 2026,” she said.
She was responding to a supplementary question from Engkilili Assemblyman Johnichal Rayong Ngipa during the 19th Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) Sitting here on Wednesday.
She said factors that could result in children being registered as non-citizens or issued pink birth certificates included parents whose marriages were not registered or recognised under Malaysian law, mothers without valid identification documents, and cases involving children who were found or abandoned.
Various measures had therefore been implemented to address the issue, including dialogue sessions with communities and awareness campaigns on the importance of registering marriages legally under Malaysian law.
Efforts were also being made to help mothers born in Sarawak who lacked identification documents obtain the necessary documents through the prescribed channels and procedures under the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance (Chapter 10).
“For mothers who are non-citizens, we encourage them to manage and update their valid travel documents and ensure their children’s birth documentation is properly handled,” she said.
For cases involving children who were found or abandoned, she said the registration process needed to be coordinated with the relevant authorities, including JPN, to ensure their status and documentation could be determined in accordance with the applicable laws.
Meanwhile, JPN records showed that 363 births were registered as non-citizens in 2022, followed by 665 in 2023, 418 in 2024 and 340 in 2025. Another 224 cases were recorded from January to August 2026. -UKASnews
