All smiles: Saifuddin Nasution (third row, seated middle) posing with children who received their citizenship papers during a ceremony at Kompleks Setia Perkasa in Putrajaya yesterday. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star
PUTRAJAYA: The long wait for citizenship for 35 children born to Malaysian mothers abroad ended with the relevant documents handed to them by the Home Minister.
Sarah Sulieman, 43, said the six-year wait for her UK-born daughters aged 14 and 10 to be granted citizenship was a challenging and stressful period.
“Everything was international based for my children. In order to keep them in Malaysia, I had to enroll them in school and there was no choice but to opt for an international school.
Without a student pass, they cannot stay here.
“The stressful part was not knowing what will happen to them once they finished schooling here,” she said when met after her girls received their citizenship documents from Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail yesterday.
Another mother, who wanted to be known as Sheena, described the culmination of a seven-year wait for her daughter’s citizenship to be approved as a big relief.
The 39-year-old said they could now stay together in Malaysia without any concerns.
“It was difficult but we managed to pull through.
“Everything from schooling to medical expenses will be much easier now,” she said, revealing that her daughter was born in Dubai.
Her first attempt to apply for her seven-year-old’s citizenship was in 2017, and she only learnt of the rejection in 2020. She applied again in 2022.
There was cheer also for Tio, with her daughter’s 10-year wait for citizenship finally approved.
“Even my hair turned white! My daughter asked where her Mykad was and I had to tell her that she did not have one. She can now finally apply for it,” said Tio of the predicament faced by her 11-year-old.
Saifuddin Nasution told reporters that all citizenship applications for children born to Malaysian mothers abroad have been processed as of March 7.
Of the more than 3,000 applications, he said about 80% was approved, and described this as a “super majority”.
“For the completed applications that we processed, they will receive a notification from the ministry.
“Then, they can take further steps needed to obtain their citizenship documents,” he said.
Of the number of applications processed, the minister said these included children born to Malaysian mothers in Canada, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, UK and more.
He said citizenship applications made for children born to Malaysian mothers abroad also required the children to be present.
Saifuddin Nasution said once the proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution on citizenship are enforced, children born to Malaysian mothers abroad will be allowed to obtain citizenship.
