Sisters seek minister's help as citizenship bid rejected thrice

Four sisters are seeking Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s intervention after the National Registration Department (NRD) rejected their citizenship application three times.

NGO Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas (DHRRA) president M Saravanan highlighted the plight of the four women from Perak - 26-year-old twins N Thachaayaney and Thanasriy, Vetyasri, 24, and Sugashini, 22 - to Malaysiakini.

According to him, the NRD rejected the citizenship applications under Article 15a of the Federal Constitution (special circumstances) three times, purportedly without a valid reason.

He also alleged that the department was unwilling to entertain their bid to apply under Article 19 for citizenship by naturalisation.

“Although they were born in Malaysia to a Malaysian father, no reason was given for the rejection of their citizenship applications.

“Their first application was in 2009, second in 2012, and third in 2014. All three applications were rejected, and more disappointingly, the third bid was only rejected in 2021 - more than seven years after the application,” said Saravanan.

“All of them are now over 21 years old. They no longer qualify to apply under Article 15a (special circumstances). The only way they can apply is under Article 19, but NRD doesn’t want to give them the application forms,” he lamented.

Their father, Naduncelean Krishnan, is a Malaysian who married a Singaporean woman in 1997, documents sighted by Malaysiakini showed.

The marriage was only conducted traditionally and not officially registered as the bride was then underaged.

All four sisters have Malaysian birth certificates, but only Sugashini’s documents list her as a citizen.

“I got shocked when all my children were rendered stateless in 2009 when I was trying to apply for identification cards for the twin girls,” Naduncelean told Malaysiakini.

Various challenges

The father is also facing trouble verifying the nationality of his children’s mother as the woman left after Sugashini was born.

“All my attempts to track down my wife have come to a dead end, and I have lodged a police report on the matter.

“I do not possess any information about my wife, hence, I cannot provide any evidence on her nationality. Malaysia is where my children were born, and the only place they have ties with,” he said.

Naduncelean added that he did a DNA test with his children on Sept 15, 2015, and the test proved he was their father.

“Despite this, the applications have still been rejected without reason.”

Saravanan said the sisters faced various challenges due to their statelessness, including acquiring education, accessing health facilities, and employment.

“They are also unable to get married and start their own families.

“More worryingly, the women risk passing down their stateless status to their children, which would definitely affect the latter’s lives and the future generation.

“Hope the ministers can help the four sisters,” he added.

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