Stateless ten-year-old boy finally a Malaysian citizen following successful application

KUALA LUMPUR: A ten-year-old boy - Muhammad Danish Haiqal - is no longer stateless, as he is now a Malaysian citizen

The previously stateless boy was in the process of a citizenship application in 2018 that was started by his 49-year-old adoptive mother Hazlina Hamzah.

“I waited for a long time, and called many times to follow up about his application status,” she said, adding that she had help from NGOs.

The letter of approval for Haiqal’s citizenship was finally given to him on Thursday (18 July), by Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail in the presence of Dato' Seri DiRaja Tan Sri Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz Binti Almarhum Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah.

On the adoption, Hazlina said that she began taking care of Haikal when he was three months old.

She said this began when she was his nanny, adding that she adopted Haiqal as his biological mother did not come back for him often.

“After court procedures and interviews, I adopted Haiqal, and it was also with his mother’s consent,” she said.

Hazlina then said that while Haiqal's biological mother is Malaysian, she did not apply for an identification card for him and added that he does not have a birth certificate.

“There will be more troubles in the future for him if he does not get citizenship and I started the application process for citizenship after adopting him," said Hazlina.

“One of our agreements is on citizenship applications. The Home Ministry needs to establish a procedure, a standard operating procedure for citizenship applications “ he said.

Speaking to press at the event, Saifuddin Nasution said that Haiqal has eight other siblings and added that he is the first to get Malaysian citizenship.

Saifuddin also added that of the 16,000 stateless children reported by NGOs, there are only 9,000 stateless remaining and said that he is willing to hear from all parties about any necessary legal amendments needed.

He then said that he will give more weight to the points raised in the discussion with Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) chairman Datuk' Seri Mohd Hishamudin Yunus, during their meeting two days ago.

Meanwhile, Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz said that Haiqal will have more opportunities open to him with citizenship and added that this highlights the severity of the statelessness in the country.

She also urged parents to register their children for identification cards to prevent issues of statelessness.

“We as a society should look at stateless people as people who we highlight and talk about. This is a systemic problem and there are issues that the government has to resolve. They have the authority to do so, ” said the Malaysian Red Crescent Society national chairman.