Ministry: Harapan gov't giving 200,000 citizenship for votes is fake news

The Home Ministry has refuted social media claims that the Pakatan Harapan government has given out citizenship to some 200,000 in exchange for votes.

The ministry, in a statement, said the allegations posted on Twitter by one "TengkuRajaAlamShah" cannot be true as since Harapan came to power in May last year, only slightly more than 4,000 people have received citizenship.

"For information, between May 2018 and Sept 15, 2019, a total of 19,788 citizenship applications were received by the National Registration Department from various races and from that number, only 4,422 were approved to become Malaysian citizens," it said.

The ministry stressed that the granting of citizenship strictly follow the criteria set out in the Federal Constitution.

"Granting citizenship is subject to the Federal Constitution and is the highest award by the Malaysian government which cannot be given out lightly.

"People are urged not to circulate false information so as to not confuse the public," it said.

The ministry said it will not hesitate to take legal action against distributors of fakes news.