Mothers’ fight for children’s citizenship continue
SHAH ALAM – Since the year 2021 up until July 12, a total of 591 women in the country reportedly struggled to get citizenship for their children who were born out of the country,
Of the total, only 33 people were in the process of getting it.
Based on the law, children with Malaysian father would automatically be certified as citizen under Article 14(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution even though the mother of the children were not a citizen.
The law, however, did not apply to children born outside of the country despite having a Malaysian mother but a non-Malaysian father.
Speaking about the struggle of her fight, a Malaysian mother shared her story of how she went through 13 years of struggles to attain citizenship for her two children born in the United States.
Aniza Ismail, 50, still had high hopes that the issue faced by her children Nadila, 20 and Atika, 16 would be solved immediately.
Aniza said the struggle began when she returned to her home country in 2009 but up to this day, her efforts to get citizenship for her daughters have been futile.
What was more worrying is that it was now a race against time as Nadila only had about a year left to have her citizenship approved under Article 15(2) in the Federal Constitution before it was no longer applicable.
"I am worried and I pity Nadila because the time left is short. I am at a loss because I don't know where to go for help.
"Currently Nadila is still studying as an international student. But, what would her future be like when she starts working since she is not a Malaysian citizen?" she told Sinar Harian.
Aniza said without Malaysian citizenship, Nadila was forced to let go of many opportunities since she was young even though she was excellent in her studies.
Other than not receiving benefits such as the textbook loan scheme, Nadila was not given access to boarding school due to her lack of citizenship.
"After finishing her high school studies, she could not apply for any scholarship and was not eligible to receive Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN) loans, college and university offers, primarily from public universities.
"She is now studying at Management and Science University (MSU) as an international student without any sponsors or scholarships. I was forced to pay student fees as much as RM3,000 to RM5,000 every semester.
"She also could not take part-time jobs due to only having a student pass.
"I feel sad because Nadilah does not have the opportunity to help provide for our family that is part of the B40," she said.
The same situation was also experienced by another mother Lavinder Kaur, 43, who wa struggling to gain citizenship for her daughter Sarabjeet Kaur, 19, since coming back to Malaysia in 2003.
Her daughter was separated from her family because she was a non-citizen born in Punjab, India.
However, Sarabjeet's two brothers were Malaysian citizens.
"I underwent neurosurgery on my head in June 2020. Sarabjeet, who was in Form Five at the time made the difficult decision to take care of me.
"In March 2021, she did not extend her student pass, which caused Sarabjeet to be deported from Malaysia and now we are separated.
“She is now staying in Punjab with my husband's relatives and will return on July 19 with a visitor pass for 30 days," she said.
With limited finance, Lavinder strived to bring Sarabjeet back to sit for her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM).
Even then, she only successfully received the placement for her daughter in a local high school
Sarabjeet could not apply for any temporary pass with a longer validity period because she was already over the age of 18.
"It does not make any sense. My daughter can't stay unless she obtains a student pass that needs an offer letter from a college in Malaysia.
"How would she get the offer letter from colleges when she herself can't sit for her SPM?
"Why are children of Malaysians who were denied citizenship subjected to such treatments," she asked.
