'Stateless kids should get same path to citizenship as heritage footballers'

Summary

• The Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas (DHRRA) urges the government to extend the same citizenship process used for seven foreign-born footballers to stateless children with Malaysian links.

• DHRRA president S Saravanan questions the flexibility granted in verifying documents for the footballers and calls for transparency.

A rights group has called on the government to apply the same process to stateless children as it did for seven foreign-born football players who were granted Malaysian citizenship.

In a statement today, the Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas (DHRRA) cited National Registration Department (NRD) director-general Badrul Hisham Alias’ explanation that the footballers were granted citizenship via Article 19 of the Federal Constitution under special circumstances.

DHRRA president S Saravanan called for this principle to be applied equally in the cases of stateless children, particularly those of Malaysian parentage who lack documentary evidence.

"We therefore urge the Home Ministry to transparently disclose the basis for these flexibilities, particularly the reproduction of documents without verification from the National Archives, and the subsequent submission of such documents by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) as proof of eligibility through lineage.

"If such measures indeed reflect administrative practices, then the same recognition must be extended without delay to all stateless children with strong links to Malaysia, by granting them citizenship under Article 19 through the provision for special circumstances," he said.

The matter of citizenship being provided to foreign-born footballers re-entered the spotlight recently when the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) sanctioned FAM and seven players for breaches of Article 22 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code on forgery and falsification.

The players, Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces, Rodrigo Julian Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano, were also hit with a 12-month suspension from all football-related activities.

Fifa said FAM had submitted falsified documents to confirm the players’ eligibility, enabling them to feature in the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers against Vietnam on June 10.

In response, FAM acting president Yusoff Mahadi said his organisation will appeal against the decision.

Birth certs

Saravanan’s statement also attached a copy of Badrul’s letter dated Sept 19, in which the latter admitted that the NRD was unable to retrieve the original handwritten birth certificates of the applicants.

Badrul said that "in line with current administrative practices", the NRD had gone on to issue official copies based on evidence that a birth had occurred.

"The discovery and confirmation of these birth records (were) used as a supporting evidence of (the) government's assessment and a part of fulfilling conditions, namely, period of residency in Malaysia, sufficient knowledge of (the) Malay language and good conduct proved sufficient grounds, under Article 19, to proceed with the issuance of naturalisation certificates for the applicants.

“I affirm that all due diligence and lawful procedures were observed during this process, and that the issuance of these citizenship certificates was carried out in full compliance with the legal and constitutional requirements of Malaysia,” he added.

Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim had also shared the same letter in a post on X.

Fifa fine

On top of sanctions, Fifa also fined FAM 350,000 Swiss francs (RM1.9 million), while each of the seven players was slapped with a 2,000 Swiss francs (RM10,500) fine.

On Sept 29, Bernama reported FAM secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman saying that a technical error was identified in the document submission process for the players, however, the nature of the so-called error has not been made public.

The seven players had joined the Malaysian football team on the basis of being “heritage players” - footballers who have some familial link to Malaysia.

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that the footballers had received their citizenship after a thorough vetting process, and that all citizenship laws had been followed.

However, human rights lawyer Eric Paulsen questioned the legality of the naturalisation process, claiming that Saifuddin's justification regarding the players' eligibility for citizenship based on ancestral links does not stand up to scrutiny.

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