COMMENT | Between 2015 and 2023, Wong Yee Lin submitted birth registration forms containing false details about the newborn babies to the National Registration Department (NRD) for the issuance of a certificate.

On April 23 last year, she pleaded guilty before Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi, who sentenced her to a fine of RM10,000 or five months in jail if she failed to pay the fine.

A month later, 10 people were fined between RM700 and RM2,000 each by the Kuala Lumpur Magistrates’ Court for providing false information to obtain birth certificates and identity cards. Aged between 55 and 69, they pleaded guilty to the charges before six different magistrates in Kuala Lumpur.

Fast forward to January: Soliman Wan was born in 1974 and bred in Malaysia without citizenship, until two months ago, when...