PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin has filed to become the legal guardian of stateless STPM top scorer Roisah Abdullah.

Adopted by a Malaysian family soon after she was born in a Klang clinic to an unknown father and foreign mother, twenty-year-old Roisah lost her adoptive mother in 2014.

This left her without a legal guardian, which is a requirement for citizenship applications.

Zuraida said she had been touched by how despite the many personal challenges, Roisah continued to achieve good academic results, most recently scoring 3As and 1B in her STPM examinations.

However, her stateless status ruled her out from being able to apply to local universities.

“Aware of the problems faced by Roisah, I have taken this proactive step to register as the young woman’s guardian.

“This is to ease this young woman’s ability to apply for Malaysian citizenship and so that she can continue her life in this country,” the Ampang lawmaker said in a statement today.

Earlier today, Roisah had filed a fresh application for citizenship with the assistance of Zuraida, as well as PKR leaders N Surendran and Latheefa Koya.

They failed to meet Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over the student’s application, despite scheduling an appointment, and were later told that he would consider her citizenship application “in the near future.”

The Home Ministry had previously rejected Roisah’s previous two applications, taking five years to give her an answer for an application filed in 2013.