Over 17,000 marriages between Malaysian men, China women not registered

It is estimated that over 17,000 marriages between local men and China women were not registered between 2011 and 2015, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the number was almost double from the number of registered marriages between local men and China women in the same period which totalled 11,623.

"From the registered marriages, a total of 9,197 children were born during that period," Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, said when winding up the debate on the motion of thanks for the royal address.

He said the main problem arising from the unregistered marriages was that the children could not be registered as Malaysian citizens.

"This creates problems. After these children were born, their mothers would have left the country and returned to their homeland, leaving the fathers or relatives here with the task of appealing for verification of the children's status so that they can enter school," he said.

Ahmad Zahid said if there were any applications, the ministry would look at it based on case-to-case basis and would use its discretion and humanitarian grounds in issuing birth certificates for those children.