PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA - Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk T. Murugiah had a shock when he visited the Cameron Highlands Hospital maternity ward recently and found Orang Asli mothers as young as 11 and 12 years old.

What worried him more was that these minors were ignorant that they needed to register the births of their babies.

He said that these girls would soon return to their homes in remote villages and the babies would remain without a birth certificate.

"This will pose a problem not only for the child and the parents but also the government in later years," he told Bernama.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the Putra Heights residents in Subang Jaya, near here, Murugiah said he would bring up the issue of non-registration with the National Registration Department to see if it could appoint a special officer to handle such cases.

He said similar cases existed in Sabah and Sarawak and solutions needed to be found to avoid problems later.

He said that the number of complaints received by the Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) annually about children without birth certificates was high and it was quite a task to solve some of these cases.

Orang Asli Affairs Department (JHEOA) public relations officer Jaafar Jantan said the problem was only limited to remote and fringe areas.

"Most of the urban ones are aware and will register their babies right after their births," he told the New Straits Times.

Jaafar was responding to Murugiah who raised the issue after a recent visit to Cameron Highlands.

"We work closely with the National Registration Department to register new births and also help the Orang Asli to get identification cards," Jaafar said.

He said JHEAO was reaching out to the Orang Asli communities deep in rural areas through the Mindset programme.

He said various government agency officials were also part of the programme.

"There is also a JHEAO official at the district level who keeps track of such cases."

Jaafar also said that although there were child brides within the communities, they mostly lived in pockets of areas which were far from civilisation.

"It is still accepted in their society to start a family as soon as one hits puberty. Again, these cases happen mostly in rural areas."

--NST