For seven-year-old identical twins Nikita and Lavinya Vikram and their father, Vikram Sivaprasagam, this year's Malaysia Day celebration carries twice the joy as the adorable pair received their citizenship from Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein today.

Wide-eyed, shy and not truly understanding the importance of this day, the twins nevertheless proved their loyalty to Malaysia and patriotism by singing the national anthem, Negaraku, whole-heartedly and reciting the Rukun Negara together with their father.

The daughters of businessman Vikram Sivaprasagam, 29, and his Russian wife, who was out of the country, also shouted,"We Love Malaysia!" at the top of their voices with encouragement from their father before the eyes of the media.

"Today is like a fairy tale. My girls, are now citizens of the country they call home. Now they can go to a proper school instead of home tutoring and they now have a future and are no longer stateless," said their jubilant father.

Vikram said his daughters were born before he was able to marry his wife because she had not reached 21 years of age and so were stateless.

No proof of existence

On the other hand, 26-year-old Gopi Rathakrishnan, who converted to Islam three years ago and now goes by the name of Mohd Farish Idham, had no idea that this day was Malaysia Day and only knew that he was receiving his citizenship after waiting for it since the day he was born.

Farish, a Tenaga Nasional Berhad worker in Shah Alam, told his woeful story of carrying a red identity card (permanent resident status) all his life and how he was always harassed and insulted by people thinking him to be a foreigner.

The young man's story began 26 years ago when his father, Rathakrishnan Venguvasalam, adopted him after two of Rathakrishnan's friends came to visit for a night and disappeared the following morning, leaving the baby Farish behind.

Rathakrishnan and his wife, who had no children, chose to raise Farish as their own but had a difficult time trying to apply for Farish's citizenship as they had no proof of his existence in the country.

"His biological parents disappeared after spending one night in my house. I tried to look for them but I couldn't find them. In the end, my wife and I decided to raise Gopi (Farish) as our own," Rathakrishnan told reporters.

In a moment worthy of a feel-good tear-jerker movie, Rathakrishan wrapped his arms around Hishammuddin the moment the minister presented the much sought-after Malaysian citizenship to his son, Farish.

Nine years wait for citizenship

Meanwhile, Klang-born Sim Hua, 68, told reporters through her daughter, Tracy Ong, that she had been waiting for nine years for her citizenship.

“We are grateful to the Klang MCA for showing us the proper channels on attaining citizenship for my mother. She tried to apply before this but had no idea how to do it.

"My mother was born before independence and my grandparents were illiterate. During Merdeka, she was still a minor and my grandparents failed to register her as a citizen even though she had a birth certificate. Afterwards it was quite difficult for her to apply for citizenship.

"But today, I'm very happy and so is my mother. When she found out that she was finally receiving her citizenship, she was so excited while my heart skipped a beat and started hopping all over the place. She's waited so long for this," said Ong smiling from ear to ear.

Sim Hua also could not contain her excitement and joy as she kept grinning at the reporters who massed around her to glean more of her experiences.

All in all, Malaysia welcomed 92 new citizens today.

- Bernama