KUCHING, Feb 17 — The amendment to the Interpretation Ordinance 2005 (Cap. 61) will address the grievances and provide an avenue for children of marriages between natives and non-natives to be recognised as natives, said Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Labour, Immigration and Project Monitoring) Datuk Gerawat Gala.
He said this amendment is welcomed by children of mixed marriages who felt deprived of their native inheritance.
“Many children of mixed marriages take pride and greatly value their native inheritance, customs, tradition and ancestry and they are accepted as natives by their community,” he said when debating the Interpretation (Amendment) Bill 2022 on Tuesday.
Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Law, MA63 and State-Federal Relations) Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, who had tabled the Bill earlier, said under this proposed amendment, a child from a mixed marriage may be considered a native even if only one of his or her parents is a native.
She noted that this however, is subjected to the conditions and requirements imposed by the Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri.
Gerawat, who is Mulu assemblyman, said the current procedure for determination of native status by application to the District Native Court can still apply with some necessary modification to make the process more efficient and less time consuming.
On another objective of the Bill, he said the amendment to the Ordinance is also consequential to the recent amendment to Article 161A(6) and (7) of the Federal Constitution.
“Before the amendment, there were 20 indigenous races listed in Article 161A(7) as natives of Sarawak and under Article 161A(6) only a person of mixed blood derived exclusively from those natives can become a native.
“In other words, a person of mixed blood where only one of the parents is a native did not qualify to be a native. This has caused a lot of unhappiness among parents and children where only one of their parents is a native,” he said.
He said the amendment to Article 161A(6) and (7) essentially provides that a native of Sarawak is as provided for by the laws of Sarawak.
“This has a very significant implication for Sarawak. It transferred the constitutional authority to determine who are natives of Sarawak from Parliament to our state.
“This is indeed part of the devolution of power to our State which is part of Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s effort to pursue our state’s autonomy,” he said. — Borneo Post