Archive for June 27th, 2008

Agony of foreign spouses for PR – the worst cases

Posted by Kit in Good Governance, Human Rights on Friday, 27 June 2008

Lets have the worst cases of the agony of foreign spouses of Malaysians to get PR (permanent residence) status, so that Parliament and the government can hear about them – with the Home Minister having to respond as well.

You can either write on this blog or email me.

A long-suffering foreign spouse has emailed her views and suggestions, which I am sharing here:

CURRENT SITUATION:

Visa rules

There are thousands of foreign spouses who are on Dependent or Employment visas renewable until last year on a yearly basis.

However since 2007, spouses are able to renew their visas for upto 5 years.

(Most often we cannot afford to pay the visa charges for 5 years at one time)

Spouses do not get Permanent Resident status even after spending more than 15 years in the country and we have Malaysian school going children. Read the rest of this entry »

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Question on Ketuanan/Kedaulatan Melayu

Posted by Kit in nation building, Parliament on Friday, 27 June 2008

(On Wednesday, I asked the Prime Minister what steps he had taken to promote the Bangsa Malaysia objective of Vision 2020 in the face of worsening racial polarisation with greater communal clamour for “ketuanan Melayu” and “kedaulatan Melayu”.

Placed No. 29 out of 97 questions, it did not come up for answer on the floor of the House in the 90-minute Question Time.

The following is the written answer from the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz which completely avoided the question by not touching on the rising crescendo in the assertion for “ketuanan Melayu” and “kedaulatan Melayu”:)

Tuan Lim Kit Siang minta Perdana Menteri menyatakan langkah-langkah yang beliau ambil untuk memupuk objektif Bangsa Malaysia sejajar dengan Wawasan 2020 memandangkan masalah polarisasi kaum kini semakin memburuk berikutan dengan bunyi riuh komunal mengenai “ketuanan Melayu” atau “kedaulatan Melayu”.

Jawapan: Sepertimana Ahli Yang Berhormat sedia maklum, perpaduan dan integrasi nasional sememangnya merupakan salah satu aspirasi utama Kerajaan. Kita percaya bahawa sebuah negara bangsa yang utuh hanya akan dapat lahir hasil daripada perpaduan yang teguh dan mantap.

Bagaimanapun, negara yang aman dan makmur tidak mungkin lahir dengan sendirinya. Atas kesedaran inilah maka Kerajaan senantiasa berusaha untuk memastikan agar pembangunan ekonomi negara terus berlangsung dengan pesat, di samping memastikan agar tiada mana-mana golongan yang merasakan mereka ketinggalan dalam arus perdana pembangunan negara. Read the rest of this entry »

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