Why siblings declared as citizens: High Court
Published on: Saturday, May 07, 2022
By: FMT
Kuala Lumpur: A high court declared two siblings born to a Malaysian father and their Indonesian mother as citizens because the government did not challenge an assertion that they were not born citizens of another country.Judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh said the father had made a positive assertion to that effect and it stands uncontradicted.
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“This means that the second and third applicants (the children) are not the citizens of the Republic of Indonesia.
“The applicants have established a prima facie case on the balance of probabilities that Section 1(e) of Part II of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution has been fulfilled,” he said in his 16-page written judgment released last week.
The judge said while the director-general of the National Registration Department (NRD) Ruslin Jusoh had asserted that the biological mother was not a Malaysian citizen, he did not, in no uncertain terms, affirm that the children were born citizens of Indonesia so as to disqualify them for citizenship.
“In short, he (Ruslin) did not contradict the positive assertion of the first applicant (father) as made in an affidavit-in support,” Wan Ahmad said.
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On March 1, Wan Ahmad delivered his oral decision to recognise the teenagers, a girl due to turn 16 in September this year and a boy due to turn 15 in October.
The judge allowed the judicial review application and declared that the children are Malaysian citizens by operation of law under Article 14(1)(b) read together with Section 1(e) of Part II of the Second Schedule of the Constitution.
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He also ordered the government to reissue identity cards to the children.
The government has since filed an appeal to set aside Wan Ahmad’s ruling.
The children, whose identity is kept anonymous, were born to one Ana at a private medical centre here in 2006 and 2007.
The couple were only legally married on Nov 20, 2012 and applied to the home ministry under Article 15A of the Constitution for the children to be granted citizenship.
Article 15A provides that subject to Article 18, the government may, in such special circumstances as it thinks fit, cause any person under 21 years of age to be registered as a citizen.
However, the application was rejected by the home minister while the children’s appeals were also dismissed.
On Feb 4, 2021, the father and the children filed a judicial review application and named the registrar of births and deaths, the NRD director-general, the home minister and the government as respondents.
Lawyers Surendra Ananth, Calvin Khoo and Gasper Wun appeared for the father and the children while senior federal counsel Nur Idayu Amir represented the respondents.
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