Born in 1946 in Taiping, M Gnanapregasam witnessed most of the country's historical events, including the communist emergency period that ended in 1960 and Malaya's independence struggle leading to Merdeka in 1957.

NONE However, Gnanapregasam's ( ri ght ) own struggle for citizenship started a year after the country in which he was born shed the shackles of British colonial rule.  

He is frustrated that his six attempts at gaining citizenship were all rejected by the National Registration Department (NRD), saying he could not pass "Perkara 16".

However, he said , he was not given any clarification as to what "Perkara 16" was all about.

Gnanapregasam's efforts at seeking help from the MCA and the MIC to get MyKad also ended in failure.

"I could not get a government job because I did not have a blue identity card. I can only work as a security guard," he said angrily, whipping out his red permanent resident identification card.

NONE Gnanapregasam was one of the 500 participants in yesterday's stateless people rally at Putrajaya.

Even Rajiv, who was born in 1987, did not get any relief in his efforts to get a MyKad either.

Rajiv, who came from Johor to Putrajaya yesterday, told Malaysiakini that the NRD had rejected his applications five times.

Tears over education deprivation

The reason: his birth certificate does not carry the names of his parents.

Because of that he could not sit for public examinations and has lost out on job opportunities.

NONE "I can't take UPSR, PMR and SPM, not even get Skim Pinjaman Buku Teks (SBPT, textbook loan scheme)," Rajiv ( right ) lamented.

Under current regulations, non-Malaysians are not entitled to that scheme.

For R Rajakumari, 50, the lack of a MyKad means living in constant fear of the police.

She applied twice for her MyKad but was rejected for failing to produce her deceased parents' marriage certificate.

"I cannot even have children because my own marriage cannot be registered," the Klang-born Rajakumari told Malaysiakini .

The organiser of rally, N Surendran, blamed the NRD for the problems that many stateless people were facing.

"Don't you think the system has failed? There are thousands of people like this," said the PKR vice president.

"This is a failure of NRD. Neither the NRD, Home Ministry nor the government are going to resolve it."