Princess meets stateless boy as vote on citizenship amendments nears

Activist groups are making a final push to appeal to lawmakers’ hearts and have them reject regressive elements in the government’s planned citizenship amendments due to be debated and voted on in the Dewan Rakyat tomorrow.

As part of this effort, Kedah’s Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz Sultan Abdul Halim met with a stateless boy known as Haiqal and his adoptive mother Hazlina Hamzah to learn about their plight and challenges.

In a video published by The Fourth yesterday, the Malaysian Red Crescent Society chairperson learned from Hazlina that she had adopted Haiqal when he was just three months old.

Haiqal - who aspires to be a professional footballer - was abandoned by his birth mother, with his only inheritance being the mother’s statelessness.

Haiqal’s adoption process took six years and, in the end, the boy was registered as a non-citizen.

“And so it (statelessness) perpetuates,” Tunku Puteri Intan, who is the Tunku Temenggong of Kedah and the sultan’s sister, remarked upon hearing Haiqal’s backstory from Hazlina.

As a non-citizen, Hazlina said Haiqal’s education and medical fees are higher than what Malaysians pay.

Though grateful for the opportunity to care for him, a tearful Hazlina said she hoped he could get his citizenship papers soon.

“What I strive for is for him to get his documents soon so he can study, be independent, and help himself.

“Maybe, God willing, he can even help his own family one day, his (birth) mother,” she added.

Moved by kindness

Tunku Puteri Intan was touched by Hazlina’s selflessness in raising Haiqal.

“It is a lesson to me and I hope it will be a lesson to others,” she said.

During the visit, Tunku Puteri Intan and the Red Crescent donated food supplies and school uniforms to the family.

Family Frontiers and the Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas (DHRAA) commissioned the video as part of their #AnakKita (our children) campaign.

An updated version of the video noted that after it was first published, the Home Ministry had contacted DHRAA and Hazlina to inform them that Haiqal’s citizenship application had been approved.

However, Hazlina has yet to receive the documents.

‘Make sure it’s retroactive’

In a follow-up video today, Khairy Jamaluddin cited Haiqal’s story in appealing to Malaysians to lobby their MPs.

This is to push them to ensure that amendments that would grant Malaysian women the right to pass down citizenship to overseas-born children are retroactive.

The former health minister also urged them to reject regressive elements in the amendments that could render others stateless.

This includes children born to Orang Asli or Orang Asal who are registered as permanent residents instead of citizens.

DHRAA and Family Frontiers are members of the Malaysian Citizenship Rights Alliance (MCRA) - which has come up with a counter-proposal to address flaws in the amendments.

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