KUALA LUMPUR: German-born stateless cyclist Muhammad Justin Felix Nagel’s nine-year wait to become a Malaysian citizen may soon be over.
There’s anticipation of a possible positive outcome, after his mother, Hasni Samsudin, 33, received a letter from the Home Ministry.
It requested the mother and her son to present themselves at the ministry’s office to receive the letter on the decision on Justin’s citizenship application.
“I’m hopeful that this is the end, that his application will be approved. That we will no longer be asked to furnish them with more documents.
“I can’t wait to get the letter. We have been waiting for too long,” she told the New Straits Times yesterday.
Hasni, upon reading the contents of the letter, was overcome with happiness and relief.
She plans to go to the ministry’s office in Putrajaya on Wednesday.
“If Justin gets his MyKad, he can go to many places and participate in cycling competitions,” she said.
Justin, 15, and his mother’s latest plea for citizenship came on Sept 25 last year, when they were called for an interview by the National Registration Department after his plight was highlighted by the NST.
The boy, who is under the Johor Sports Council’s high-performance sports unit’s development programme, has been based in Muar with other riders under the programme since 2015.
He was allowed to stay at the SMK Dato Sri Amar Di Raja hostel over the past two years.
However, this year, he found himself denied lodging, which, said the Johor Education Department, was only for citizens.
Justin was born in Itzehoe, Germany, and has a younger brother, Joshua Adam, 11, who was born in Kuala Lumpur, and has no citizenship issues.
Justin’s German passport, which he had used to travel previously, expired three years ago, but he has no desire to renew it due to his intent to gain Malaysian citizenship.
Following an application supported by Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and the Home Minister’s Office, Hasni and Justin were called for an interview with the National Registration Department in September last year, after which they were told that his application was being processed.