Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has defended the National Registration Department’s (NRD) decision to produce birth certificates for the grandparents of seven “heritage” football players embroiled in an ongoing citizenship controversy.

Pointing to Section 10(a) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957, the minister told a press conference that the legislation empowers the department’s director-general with the power to register births if the officer is satisfied with the evidence produced.