LANDMARK CASE: Two stateless young Indian women to sue JPN & MALAYSIAN GOVT

Two young Indian women born in Malaysia will file a landmark test case against embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak's government, which has come under increasing fire both domestically and internationally for promulgating policies supportive of racism and racial discrimination.

"The two girls are from Kapar, Selangor. They are entitled to citizenship and blue I.C.s under the law but the BN government won't even issue them birth certificates," PKR vice president N Surendran told Malaysia Chronicle.

"If they win their case, it will force the federal government to resolve the longstanding problem of stateless persons. And this applies not just to Indians but to all the other minority ethnic groups that have been left out of the economic loop by the BN. Pakatan Rakyat is determined to end the injustice done to all stateless Malaysians due to discriminative policies."

The lawsuit against the JPN or National Registration Department and the Government of Malaysia will be filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur on Monday, December 10, 2012 at 11am.

Surendran, who is also a prominent human rights lawyer, along with Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah and Latheefa Koya will represent the two women.

Denial syndrome: Only 9,000 NOT 300,000

Earlier on Sunday, Najib denied claims by human rights activists that there were at least 300,000 stateless Indians alone in multi-racial Malaysia, which has been ruled by the BN since 1957.

According to the scandal-plagued PM, there were only 9,000 people who were unregistered as citizens instead of the 300,000 claimed. He slammed the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition of making unsubstantiated accusations.

“Where’s the proof? The opposition is only good at accusing but when asked to show proof they don’t have any. I was informed by Subramaniam that there are only 9,000 people who have applied for citizenship,” said Najib, referring to MIC deputy resident, S Subramaniam, who is also Human Resource Minister.

“Of that figure, as many as 7,000 have already been given identity cards and birth certificates whereas the remainder are still being processed."

Najib's party Umno which dominates the BN coalition has through the years veered more and more to the right with policies that have been accused of favoring the Malays, who make up 45% of the country's 28 million population, at the expense of the minority races.

He was speaking at the BN component, the MIC's 66th annual assembly at the PWTC.

Stop denying the reality: The stateless victims have SUFFERED long enough

However, Najib's claims were rejected by the 46-year-old Surendran, who warned the problem of statelessness was already "shockingly widespread" among Malaysian Indians, whether rural or urban.

According to the PKR vice president, the stateless have been denied proper schooling, employment and access to basic amenities.The problem is also becoming worse as it has become generational, with statelessness passed down to the younger generation.

As a result, thousands of Indian children of school-going age are also prevented from schooling or receive incomplete schooling. A prominent example is the case of 17 year old B Reshina who faced obstacles in registering for the SPM exam earlier this year.

"These stateless Indians were born and have lived in Malaysia all their lives. They are citizens by operation of law. Najib and his government have flagrantly breached the federal constitution by refusing to issue blue ICs to our stateless Malaysians. Not a single Malaysian should suffer from the problem of statelessness," said Surendran.

"We call upon Najib and his government to stop denying the enormity of the problem and to end the long suffering of stateless Malaysians immediately."

Malaysia Chronicle