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KUALA LUMPUR: A stateless woman today failed to obtain a statement from the High Court that she is a citizen of Malaysia.
Superior Court Judge Mariana Yahya dismissed Tan Soo Yin’s claim for citizenship for failing to prove that her biological parents were Malays, as required by Section 1 (e) of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
Tan, who was seen crying after the court’s decision, said she was disappointed.
“It’s just an (identity) card. It’s not that I’ve done anything wrong in my life, ”she said in Mandarin, referring to her wish to have a MyKad and be legally recognized as Malaysian.
The 37-year-old said she has had a temporary resident ID card or MyKas since she was 19, and that she couldn’t apply for anything with it.
“I can’t work, apply for a bank account, or get a driver’s license. These are things that break my heart to think about it, ”Tan said.
She said she has no knowledge of her biological parents, who said they abandoned her after she was born in hospital.
“My foster mother said they left me. Over the years, people asked me where I was from. I don’t know what to tell you about my background because I’m equally in the dark, ”he said.
He said he felt sad for his teenage daughter facing the same fate.
“She is now on Form 4 and a relative of my ex-husband is taking care of her.
“I just want her to lead a decent life and get a proper education so that she is not like me,” Tan said, adding that she only studied for two years in an elementary school before her adoptive mother pulled her out of school. and told her to work on a plantation.
Tan’s attorney, Jasmine Wong, said she had done her best to find her biological parents before going to court.
He said that one of the avenues Tan could take was to file an appeal against today’s court decision.
“Alternatively, you can apply for citizenship by registering under Article 19 of the Federal Constitution or citizenship by naturalization,” Wong said.
“But the problem now is that he is not even allowed to apply for Article 19 because his birth certificate does not have details of his biological parents.”
In a separate case today, the court also dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Sarawak couple asking the court to declare their adopted teenage son Malaysian.
The couple adopted the child two years ago and the child’s birth certificate indicates that he is a “non-citizen.”
Attorney Toh Kah Yung, representing the family, said Mariana dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that the Sarawak Adoption Ordinance did not specify that a child could obtain citizenship through parents after it was officially adopted.
“The courts here said that the Adoption Law and Ordinance are silent on whether the child can acquire citizenship after being adopted,” he said.
He added that the family had tried to find details of the teenager’s biological parents at the hospital where the child was born, but the effort was futile.
