By IANS
Kuala Lumpur : A special committee under the home affairs ministry will be set up to handle the plight of 40,000 Malaysian Indian children without a birth certificate.
“These children are unable to attend school, register for programmers or get jobs as adults,” Selangor Chief Minister Mohammad Chirr Toyo Saturday told an Indian cultural show organised by the Bartizan National Volunteers Association, an arm of the ruling coalition.
Toyo said the decision to set up the committee was made after he took up the issue with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
“The prime minister was shocked when I informed him and immediately asked for a special committee to be formed under the home ministry,” he said.
Toyo said the state government was working closely with several NGOs to get the parents to register their children.
He added that the birth certificate would be issued quickly if information on the hospital of birth and supporting facts from grandparents or close relatives were provided.
“We have to be careful. We have to safeguard against foreigners who might use the chance to register for citizenship,” The Star newspaper quoted Toyo as saying.