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PUTRAJAYA (AFP): A rising eSports player has won a years-long battle for Malaysian citizenship, a victory that allows him to compete internationally and highlights the problems faced by hundreds of thousands of stateless children in the country.
Muhammad Aiman Hafizi Ahmad was part of a team that competes on the popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), pitting participants against each other in a virtual fight to the death.
But when they won the opportunity to participate in two tournaments in China last year, the 20-year-old had to skip them; he could not travel abroad, as he was officially stateless.
Aiman was born in Malaysia to an Indonesian mother and was adopted by local parents, but was never recognized as a Malaysian citizen and was unable to obtain a passport.
He had applied to become a Malaysian years before and was rejected. But after being forced to miss tournaments, he renewed his efforts by launching a widely publicized legal battle.
The authorities then decided to grant him citizenship, making the fight in court unnecessary.
“I have waited to get this certificate of citizenship for eight years,” said a happy Aiman on Tuesday (September 1) in Putrajaya, grabbing the document.
With the legal battle behind him, Aiman said he hoped “to get the game back on the competitive scene.”
While traveling abroad to participate in competitions seems unlikely in the near future due to the coronavirus pandemic, the decision opens the door for Aiman to develop his career in the burgeoning esports scene.
Born to an Indonesian mother and an unknown father, Aiman was adopted by a couple from Taiping, Perak state.
Although his birth was later registered by his adoptive parents, his documents described him as stateless.
In addition to leaving him without a passport, this made it difficult for him to access health care, education and work, and he could not even open a bank account.
Unlike some countries, Malaysia, which is home to millions of migrant workers from the poorest parts of Asia, does not automatically grant citizenship to people born there.
At least 290,000 stateless children live in Malaysia, many of them with parents from Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar, according to media reports citing officials. It is believed that there are also many stateless adults, although the overall figure is unclear.
Malaysia’s constitution says that the government can choose to register anyone under the age of 21 as a citizen. But Aiman’s attorney, New Sin Yew, said the process was “quite opaque and time consuming.”
“The fastest (application) can take about three years and the government often rejects applications without reason,” he told AFP.
He added: “I think that if this case had not been brought to the attention of the media, it would have been much more difficult, because there would have been no public support.”
Aiman’s parents first tried to register him as a citizen when he was 12 years old, but the application was rejected.
He started playing games by playing on his phone and then discovered PUBG.
Aiman, who now lives outside of the capital Kuala Lumpur, later started playing in PUBG competitions and joined a team, honing his skills by practicing four to five hours a day.
And he’s hopeful for a bright future in esports.
“I want to make my family proud and also my country,” he said.
“This is my dream.”
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