KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 — Registered under the wrong parents when she was born in Johor, a 38-year-old woman ended up living as a stateless person for 38 years, even though she should actually be a Malaysian.

But she is now recognised as a Malaysian, after the National Registration Department (NRD) recently helped correct an error in her birth certificate.

Referred to as D to protect her identity, she described her feelings when she received a revised birth certificate stating that she is a Malaysian citizen.

“I feel as if I am reborn! And free of all feelings of worry,” she told Malay Mail when contacted via her lawyer.

The first thing she wants to do as a Malaysian is to own a bank account.

How did D become stateless?

Here’s D’s story, based on court documents in her citizenship case:

D’s Indonesian parents have been permanent residents in Malaysia since 1984, and she was born in July 1986 at a government hospital in Johor Baru.

This means D should have automatically been a Malaysian when she was born, based on the existing citizenship laws in the Federal Constitution.

This is because those born in Malaysia — with at least one Malaysian or permanent resident parent — are citizens by operation of law (or because the law says so).

The Malaysian government last year made a new law to remove the right of permanent residents’ Malaysia-born children to automatically be Malaysians. This was gazetted on March 20 this year, but has not come into force yet.

This new law will only affect those born after it comes into effect.

Because her parents were illiterate and did not know the procedures, a third party helped register D’s birth with the NRD.

Unfortunately, D was wrongly registered as having been born to two foreigners, which meant she was not recorded as a Malaysian.

This crucial error resulted in her becoming a stateless person (or a person who is not a citizen of any country in the world).

While her birth certificate did not state her citizenship status (as it was an older format then that does not state a child’s nationality), it carried the words “Daftar Orang Asing”. This implied that she was registered as a foreigner.

In D’s original birth certificate, her registered parents’ names are also completely different from her biological parents’ names.

“I also don’t know who they are,” she said in a court document, referring to the two unknown persons incorrectly registered as her “parents” in the birth certificate.

“I have never taken any steps to correct the error in my birth certificate because I didn’t know I could do so,” she said in the same court document.

D said she had only studied up to Primary Six and did not know her legal rights, and could not enrol at a secondary school as she was stateless.

She then stayed at home to take care of her younger siblings — who are all Malaysians — while her biological parents went to work, and started working at age 18.

D could not continue her education after primary school because she was stateless. The photo shows a child colouring the Malaysian flag. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin

Immigration detention of D and her three children

Because she was stateless, her three young Selangor-born children — born to a non-Malaysian father — have also been stateless since birth.

The children’s birth certificates state that they are non-citizens of Malaysia, and also state their mother D to be of non-citizen status.

D told Malay Mail that they faced the difficulty of restricted movement as they did not have Malaysian citizenship, and also faced the challenge of finding a peaceful place to sleep at night at certain times.

Non-governmental organisation Buku Jalanan Chow Kit (BJCK) co-founder Siti Rahayu Baharin, whose team has been assisting D, explained that D lives in an area that is prone to raids by the Immigration Department.

Siti Rahayu told Malay Mail that D has always been fearful of moving around and has been living in fear of the Immigration Department’s raids and of the possibility of being detained.

This is especially after D’s green-coloured identity card — known as MyKas — was not renewed by the NRD.

MyKAS is an identification document for temporary residents which has to be renewed every five years when it expires, and is known to have been issued to some Malaysia-born stateless persons who have not been recognised as Malaysians.

On July 1, 2022, the Immigration Department arrested and detained D and her three children — then aged 36, 12, 10 and eight respectively.

The young family on July 15, 2022 filed a court application to be released from Immigration detention.

The High Court on November 3, 2022 ruled that the Immigration Department’s months-long detention — without bringing them to court within the legally-required timeline — was illegal and ordered their immediate release.

D’s lawyer New Sin Yew told Malay Mail: “It wasn’t until her arrest that legal advice was sought on her arrest and statelessness.”

The NRD issued a MyKad to D this year and also corrected the error in her birth certificate. File photo of a MyKad card reader in use. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

D’s citizenship lawsuit

On September 14, 2022, D and her three children filed a lawsuit via an originating summons at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur against four respondents, namely the Registrar-General of Births and Deaths, the national registration director-general, the home minister and the Malaysian government.

In the lawsuit, they sought to be declared as Malaysian citizens and as being entitled to have birth certificates and identity cards stating “Warganegara” (Citizen).

D’s lawyer New said his clients had tried to settle the matter with the Attorney General’s Chambers, and that NRD “quite kindly agreed to conduct a DNA test to confirm D’s biological relationship with her parents”.

“On May 22, 2023, NRD confirmed that D is the biological child of her birth parents and agreed to correct her birth certificate,” New said, adding that his clients then withdrew the lawsuit.

On February 27 this year, NRD issued a revised birth certificate to D, and it now correctly states the names of D’s biological parents and their permanent resident status.

This revised birth certificate also states that D is a Malaysian citizen, and carries the note “Pembetulan Maklumat Seksyen 27(3)”. This shows there was a correction made under Section 27(3) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957.

“She is now officially recognised as a Malaysian citizen. In light of this, her children too should be citizens by operation of law,” New said.

New said D’s three children will also seek to get their birth certificates corrected to show their status to be Malaysian citizens.

Unlike other cases involving stateless persons, D and her children have not applied for Malaysian citizenship as their cases are instead about asking for corrections to the NRD’s official records.

In the same week that D received her revised birth certificate with the correct details of her parents, she also received her MyKad from the NRD — a blue-coloured identity card only issued to Malaysian citizens.

Lawyer Nur Izni Syazwani Ahmad also represented D and her children in their citizenship lawsuit.

Having Malaysian citizenship could lead to a chance at living with dignity for D and her children. Photo shows a unique Malaysian flag made out of 4,000 coconuts by SMK Darul Ehsan, Selayang in 2018. — Picture by FIrdaus Latif

Hope for a better life with dignity

This year, the eldest of D’s three children will be turning 15, the second child will be turning 14, while the youngest is aged 11.

D’s children could not go to government schools as they were stateless, and have been attending BJCK’s alternative homeschooling classes.

BJCK’s Siti Rahayu Baharin said D’s children are currently still attending classes there, adding that her organisation would also help with getting the three recognised as Malaysians.

“Because we want every child to have a pathway to citizenship, to finally be given back their dignity,” she said when contacted, adding that civil society would try its best to help ensure stateless children meet the requirements for citizenship.

She said stateless children would not become purported threats to national security if they are able to go to school and have opportunities in life, as well as dignity through having an identity as a citizen.

Now that she is recorded officially as a Malaysian, D told Malay Mail that she hopes that her children would be able to attend school and enjoy all the facilities provided by the government to citizens.

Siti Rahayu said D is currently in the process of amending her MyKad’s details to reflect her corrected name featuring her biological father’s name.

Once that is settled, Siti Rahayu said BJCK plans to help D in getting a job to enable her to regain her dignity.

“We are very grateful for JPN, for KDN, for assisting her in this process. You know, by giving the mother chances, is actually giving the children their rights and dignity back,” Siti Rahayu said regarding the NRD’s and Home Ministry’s efforts in helping D.

JPN and KDN are the Malay initials for the NRD and the Home Ministry.