If Anwar wants a second term… By P Gunasegaram

Malaysiakini :  COMMENT | If Anwar Ibrahim wants to get a second term as prime minister, he needs to do many things differently from what he is doing now and get his key ministers to support him in his efforts.

In a podcast with former Umno leader Khairy Jamaluddin, PKR secretary-general and “backdoor” Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail expressed hope that PMX would serve a second term as prime minister.

However, that will take much more than just talk. Take for instance the issue of amending the Constitution on citizenship rights, which has been deferred to the next Parliament session in June.

One of the key points was that it removed a provision for foundlings to become citizens by operation of law, requiring applications and approvals instead.

And we all know how long the National Registration Department (NRD) takes with such applications as exemplified by this case in a report yesterday, where four sisters have had their citizenship bid rejected thrice.

The foundling proposal was withdrawn after protests but other contentious points remain, and together with other new proposals, make it more difficult to obtain statehood as explained in a statement by the Bar Council.

This makes statehood still a rather onerous process very much dependent on the whims and fancies of the notoriously unsympathetic NRD officers.

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail

When Saifuddin can’t even assist Anwar in getting rid of the stateless problem in Malaysia which has dogged some communities, including the Orang Asal, Indians, and Chinese for decades, how does he hope to garner support for Anwar and ensure another term?

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