PUTRAJAYA: After years of legal wrangling, three stateless children who were born in Malaysia were given approval by the Home Ministry to register as Malaysian citizens.
Lawyer Datuk Dr Cyrus Das told the Federal Court here that the three boys received letters on Wednesday from the ministry, approving their citizenship under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution.
However, he requested assurance from the nine-member bench that the children’s birth certificates would also be amended, as they are currently red and carry the label “non-citizen”.
The Home Ministry’s legal adviser, Mohammad Al-Saifi Hashim, said that for special circumstances such as this, due course will take place.
Das represented the families of the two boys, aged 17 and 18, while lawyer Datuk Sri Gopal Sri Ram appeared for the family of an 8-year-old boy.
The families of the three children brought their cases to the court for declaration after the children were denied citizenship.
The teenagers, whose birth parents are unknown, were separately adopted by two Malaysian couples, while the 8-year-old boy was born to a Malaysian father and a Thai mother who were not legally married when he was born.
Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Ahmad Maarop, who led the bench, subsequently struck out appeals and reference applications after Das and Sri Ram respectively informed the court that they were withdrawing them following the decision by the Home Ministry.
On Sept 11, 2017, the Federal Court granted the leave to appeal on several legal questions, including whether the reference to blood or lineage was required under the Federal Constitution in determining the citizenship of a child.
The other judges presiding on the bench were Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zaharah Ibrahim, Federal Court judges Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed, Datuk Alizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin, Datuk Rohana Yusuf, Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh, Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, Tan Sri Idrus Harun and Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan.