‘Withdraw 'unjust' appeal against court order granting citizenship to child'

‘Withdraw 'unjust' appeal against court order granting citizenship to child'


The government has been urged to withdraw its appeal against Kuala Lumpur High Court’s order, which directed the National Registration Department’s (NRD) director-general to issue a birth certificate to a five-year-old boy reflecting his status as a Malaysian citizen.

Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) today condemned Putrajaya’s move, calling it an “unjust and unnecessary appeal”.

In a statement, LFL director Zaid Malek questioned the government’s objective through the appeal when Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had already acknowledged that statelessness is a serious national issue.

Saifuddin, in January, had set up a special committee to address the problem of statelessness in the country.

“Yet, this appeal indicates that the Pakatan Harapan-led government is not serious about addressing statelessness.

“Worse, it continues to perpetuate the problem by prolonging the issue by filing an unmeritorious appeal to render this unfortunate child stateless for life,” Zaid said.

Yesterday, it was reported that lawyer Marcus Lee, who represented the boy’s father, said his firm received a copy of the appeal notice filed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).

However, Lee was reported as saying by FMT that his team was not aware of any application made by the AGC to stay the High Court order made on May 18, pending the hearing of the appeal.

On May 18, the High Court ordered NRD to issue a birth certificate within 30 days to reflect the 5-year-old’s status as a Malaysian citizen.

FMT reported that Judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh acknowledged a DNA report, which was not disputed by NRD, confirming that the applicant was the boy’s biological father.

In an affidavit in support of the judicial review application made by the boy’s father last June, the 27-year-old man said his son was born in July 2018 at a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur.

This, he said, was a month before his marriage to the boy’s Vietnamese mother was registered.

However, the birth certificate issued by NRD classified the boy as a non-citizen.


‘No moral justification’

Zaid stressed that there is no moral justification for the government to “punish” children born out of wedlock with statelessness.

“This is the main ground upon which the government wants to deny the child’s status as a Malaysian.

“It is also an immensely heartless act which victimises a mere child.”

He added that the court had rightfully determined that the boy was a citizen under Article 14(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution as the paternity of his Malaysian father was established, in accordance with a previous Federal Court decision in 2022.

“This Federal Court decision by the chief justice herself is being blatantly ignored by the government and home minister.

“Instead the Harapan-led government, which promised repeatedly to protect human rights, is determined to stop this young child from getting his basic right to citizenship.

“Without citizenship, the child’s future is bleak. Being stateless is not something trivial; it hampers an individual’s rights to education, healthcare and overall livelihood.

“There is no future for those who are stateless, which is why it is of utmost importance that statelessness is eradicated,” he said.

Zaid emphasised the importance of the laws on citizenship being expanded and not “regressed to the detriment of the children” of the country, who are blameless in the circumstance of their birth.