COMMENT Imagine being innocent and born into this world without any proper paper to claim your citizenship and you are being laughed at in school as a child born out of wedlock.

When Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Zaleha Yusof hears an application by a 16-year-old ‘ Pravin Prasad ’ (not his real name) on Friday, yet another case of a stateless child is brought to the attention of the public.

Another instance involves seven-year-old ‘Wong You Eng’ (name changed to protect her identity) whose father’s application for her Malaysian citizenship was also rejected by the National Registration Department (NRD).

The case is fixed for hearing on July 16 before the same judge. In its affidavit, the NRD had stated that: “Wong was born out of wedlock or that that there is no proof that Wong’s parents were married.”

It stated that the basis for rejecting Wong’s application for Malaysian citizenship rested on the absolute prerogative of the Home Minister to grant citizenship to anyone at his discretion, implying that Wong did not fit into the category of people who would be granted a citizenship.

It is learnt that Wong’s biological father is a Malaysian Chinese but her mother is from China. When Wong’s father applied to the NRD for his child’s citizenship, he was asked to undergo a DNA test to prove that he was indeed the father to Wong.

Despite providing the evidence and meeting with several NRD officers to then enquire about Wong’s citizenship status, Wong’s efforts to solve his daughter’s citizenship problem was fruitless.    

Hanging in balance

According to constitutional law expert Professor Abdul Aziz Bari, under Article 15A of the federal constitution, the federal government has the power to grant citizenship to any person under the age of twenty-one years to be registered as a citizen.

“There is really no need for such cases to go to court if you want my opinion,” he said.

“The reason why this was included in the federal constitution was to allow the federal government and in this case, the prime minister and his home minister, the discretion to act in the interest of the innocent child concerned. Both have failed to provide reasonable protection for a stateless child like You Eng.”

Increasingly, more of these cases are now being brought before the courts as a last resort to seek justice because other avenues have failed.

In the case of ‘Pravin’, the Kuala Lumpur High Court will decide on June 20 on his status. His future is hanging in the balance as his ‘statelessness’ means a dimmed future for this teenager when he enters the heartless and cruel adult world.

According to his solicitor, Annou Xavier ( left ), ‘Pravin’ can only hope the esteemed judge will give strong consideration for the innocent child’s welfare.

Why go to court?

Xavier pointed out that the Malaysian government had on Feb 17, 1995 ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child in which Article 3 of that convention states, “…the best interest of the child shall be a primary consideration…”

He argued that if the child’s citizenship is not one in the best interests of a child, then what was? “As a nation, we have to live up to our international commitment to the UNHCR’s Convention of the Rights of the Child,” he said, especially since ‘Pravin’ has a Malaysian father and was born in Malaysia.

If the judge rules in favour of ‘Pravin’ - and this sweet victory could be Pravin’s best birthday gift come July 8 when he turns 16, it could also mean that a number of unresolved cases involving ‘stateless children’ could be settled through the courts.

However, this raises the question why such cases should be brought before the judiciary for a solution when it is the government that should have enough political will to help these ‘stateless children’.

Politicians and non-governmental organisations such as Hindraf and the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) have raised this issue time and again.

Open letter to PM

A Malaysian parent of another stateless child, Kim Thiruchelvam had previously written an open letter to the prime minister about her daughter, Alaani, who will be turning four soon.

“In March 2010, we were asked if we would consider adopting a child of a refugee who had been abandoned in the Kuantan hospital and was under the care of the Welfare Department (JKM).

“Knowing that this child was stateless and with both of us coming from a legal background, we knew that it would be no easy journey,” she wrote.

After all the hot air in 2010 about the relevant government agencies helping to sort out the birth certificate, adoption and citizenship process, the writer is now equally disillusioned.

“After two years of waiting for the citizenship application to be processed, we received a letter of rejection,” she wrote. “As I read it, it made me wonder if the officer-in-charge had any sense of moral responsibility about the lives that he or she was affecting when such an arbitrary decision is made.”

She added: “When we were first feted to a get-together by the Prime Minister’s Department (JPM) and the Home Ministry at Putrajaya in 2011, what amazed me was that this group of parents came from all races and all walks of life.

“There was an army officer, a rubber tapper, a pastor, social workers, domestic helpers and lawyers.”    

Thiruchelvam also raised a further question in her letter to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak:

“Mr Prime Minister, how can it be just or fair when two Malaysian parents, who have legally gone through the government machinery and processes, be told that their child's application for citizenship is not successful without any explanation given?”

Tomorrow: Being stateless - what does it mean?

STEPHEN NG is a chemist by training. He dealt with printing ink, paint and emulsion polymer for 15 years before becoming a freelance writer.