BRITAIN TO LOOK INTO BRITISH OVERSEAS CITIZENS PLIGHT

In a limbo: Malaysian BOCs Tracy (far left), Edward (far right) and Dee (second from right) together with CIAC’s Malaysian chairman Edmond Yeo (second from left), solicitor Christine Lee (third from left) and London Citizens’ Jessica Jones (fourth from left) and Neil Jameson (behind her) after the All-Party Parliament Group for Chinese meeting in London.

LONDON: Britain has agreed to look into the plight of more than 500 Malaysian British Overseas Citizens (BOCs) who have found themselves stateless in the country.

• Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said he would meet with the ex-Malaysians in a predicament after they were misled into giving up their passports as a route towards acquiring British citizenship.
• He described the BOCs’ position as a “hangover” from Britain’s colonial past which the Government was willing to pursue.
• This is the first time the Malaysian BOCs have had the opportunity to press for a meeting with the minister following their peace rally in July to lobby for British citizenship.
• They had acquired BOC status by virtue of being born in the two former British colonies before 1983 following an amendment to the British Nationality Act, which created a residual BOC category.
• Earlier, in his written response to London Citizens, a grassroots organisation, Woolas said the UK Border Agency’s position on Malaysian citizenship was based on a recent decision by the Immigration Appeal Tribunal in a case involving Ting and others.
• According to reports made available to The Star, the tribunal had dismissed the applications of 122 BOCs, citing among the reasons, that they were not entitled to British citizenship.
• Woolas said it had been the agency’s understanding and the Malaysian Govern­ment’s position, that acquisition of a BOC passport by a Malaysian citizen was sufficient justification for the deprivation of Malaysian citizenship.
• However, he said the tribunal took the view in the case of Lim, Teh and Ting that the relevant articles of the Malaysian Constitution did not give reasons to conclude that a BOC lost Malaysian nationality by acquiring or using a BOC passport.

Source: mStar