KUCHING, March 9 — The Home Ministry, National Registration Department and Sarawak government are in the final stage of finalising the terms of reference and application procedures for the special task force (STF) in dealing with the stateless population issue in Sarawak, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said today.

"The STF has obtained as many as 9,314 target data in Sarawak who do not have any identification papers,” the home minister said in a statement.

He also announced that 40 children, aged below 21 from Sarawak, have been granted Malaysian citizenship in accordance with Article 15A of the Federal Constitution.

He said they were among the applicants who had been granted citizenship by the federal government based on the Federal Constitution and relevant laws.

"This is one of the ministry’s focuses and determinations to review and resolve issues related to citizenship and also issues related to registration as well as identification documents that are of concern and causing anxiety among various parties,” Saifuddin said.

He said granting status to the 40 under-21s was an example of the close collaboration between the Home Ministry and the Sarawak government through the state Ministry of Women, Early Childhood Community Well-being Development led by Datuk Sri Fatimah Abdullah in solving the stateless issue in Sarawak.

He said the ministry has so far resolved 135 citizenship applications involving under-21s in Sarawak.

On the three former Border Scouts from Sarawak, Saifuddin said their applications for citizenship are being processed.

He added they are the holders of MyPR Identification Cards which were issued on June 10, 2013, adding that is not enough to meet the 12-year residency period from the date of the issuance of the MyPR.

"However, the ministry will consider their applications as applications under the exemption period under Article 20(1) (C) of the Federal Constitution,” he said.