Overseas-born kids pass final citizenship hurdle: Printer issues
Three Malaysian mothers under the Family Frontiers banner, after waiting almost a decade to get citizenship for their foreign-born children, today turned up at the National Registration Department (NRD) headquarters in Putrajaya to receive their children’s citizenship confirmation certificate.
This was after the Kuala Lumpur High Court made a landmark ruling last September that Malaysian mothers have the right to confer citizenship to their children born overseas.
Though they eventually managed to get the certificates, the mothers’ long struggle lasted a few more hours due to the NRD having “issues with the printer settings”.
The three mothers, who are part of the plaintiffs in the landmark case, arrived at the NRD headquarters for their 2.30pm appointment today to pick up their children’s citizenship certificate.
However, after two and a half hours, they left the building empty-handed at 5pm as the NRD office had closed for the day.
“When we arrived, the mothers were asked to pay RM30 to print out the certificate for the children, and then we ended up waiting for two and a half hours and we were just told that JPN had issues with their printer settings,” said Family Frontiers president Suri Kempe to reporters after leaving the NRD building the first time.
At the time, she said they were told the NRD would not be able to issue the certificates today but that it would be done in the next 14 working days.
Shortly after, an NRD officer appeared at the entrance of the building and told the mothers and Suri the certificates will be issued “manually” today if they waited a little longer.
“I have waited almost 10 years, I can wait now,” said one of the mothers, Adlyn Adam Teoh, who has a nine-year-old son born in Beijing, China.
Finally, an hour later, around 6pm, the three mothers walked out of the NRD with their children’s printed citizenship confirmation certificates in hand.
“I feel relieved… like my burden has lessened... because I have been applying (for citizenship) for my child for so long.
“I had kind of lost hope like maybe it was impossible but Family Frontiers gave us hope. Alhamdullilah, I am really happy,” said another mother, Myra Eliza, who has an eight-year-old daughter born in Zambia.
Teoh said today felt like a roller-coaster, as she initially felt very disappointed by NRD’s printer issues despite showing up to their appointment to pick up the certificates.
“But I am very thankful because, at the last minute, they called us to wait a little longer so they can resolve this problem and finally it could be resolved. So I am very, very happy,” she said.
The third mother, Devi (not her real name), left immediately after coming out of the building at 5pm due to prior engagements but returned to collect the certificate an hour later.
She said she was glad her son can now live with her without any worries or boundaries.
Teoh added that it felt “unreal” to finally hold her son’s Malaysian citizenship certificate in her hands.
“However, tomorrow I am waiting for a call from NRD to confirm that the details on this paper are also in their system. So once I get that call, I will feel a bit more relieved,” she said.
‘Court order applies to all M’sian mothers’
While the three mothers received the citizenship certificates for their children, Suri noted many others in similar situations are still struggling to do the same.
She said Family Frontiers has received feedback since the landmark judgment last September from mothers who went to submit their documents that there is a lack of procedural clarity among NRD branches, embassies, and high commissions.
“While we appreciate the government’s quick action for three out of the six plaintiffs, we would like to remind the government that the High Court order applies to all Malaysian mothers and their children facing similar obstacles.
“Some mothers were given a list of different requirements and varying instructions when submitting their documents. It seems that some embassies and high commissions did not even receive instructions from Putrajaya.
“There need to be clear guidelines that standardise the confirmation of citizenship for children, to ensure that Malaysian mothers do not have to jump through additional bureaucratic hoops that Malaysian fathers have never had to, in order to ensure their foreign-born children receive citizenship,” Suri said.
She also again urged the government to withdraw its appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s judgement.
On Sept 9, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur declared that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers are automatically entitled to Malaysian citizenship.
The government filed an appeal against the decision and applied for a stay on the High Court's decision.
The Court of Appeal has since dismissed the federal government’s application for a stay on the High Court’s decision, while the hearing for the appeal against the decision is set for March 23.
Prior to this, the government had been denying Malaysian mothers from conferring citizenship to their children who are born overseas while allowing men to do so.
It means that Malaysian women who are married to non-Malaysians cannot pass down their citizenship to a child if the child is born outside Malaysia.
This constitutional challenge had been filed by Family Frontiers, along with six Malaysian mothers, in December 2020, seeking a declaration that Malaysian women married to foreign spouses can automatically confer citizenship on their children who are born overseas.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.