Dear Mr Prime Minister,
Yesterday I received a letter from the Home Ministry rejecting my daughter's application for citizenship. What is most perplexing and upsetting is that our application, submitted two years ago to KDN (Home Ministry), was on the instruction of KDN. Your officers in fact helped us fill out the application form!
In March 2010, we were asked if we would consider adopting a child of a refugee, who had been abandoned in Kuantan hospital and was under the care of JKM (Welfare Department). Knowing that this child was stateless and with both of us coming from a legal background, we knew that it would be no easy journey.
Citizenship in Malaysia is after all at the absolute discretion of the home minister. Yet we went ahead because we felt that we were in a better position than most parents to deal with the challenges ahead. And we have no regrets. Our daughter, Alaani, is a beautiful child who will turn four soon.
Today however when I'm asked if I would consider adopting another stateless child, my answer is a flat "no." Simply because here in Malaysia, despite both parents being Malaysian - there is no clear process or time frame for the road to citizenship when it comes to your adopted child.
We are part of a group of Malaysian parents from all walks of life who have relieved the government's welfare system and taken on the daunting responsibility of knowingly fostering and adopting stateless children. In the wake of media reports of illegal adoptions, we have done everything by the book.
When we were first feted to a get-together by JPM (Prime Minister’s Department) and KDN at Putrajaya in 2011, what amazed me was that this group of parents came from all races and all walks of life. There was an army officer, a rubber tapper, a pastor, social workers, domestic helpers and lawyers.
Led by Dr Hartini Zainudin of Yayasan Nur-es-salam, we were promised that the relevant government agencies would help sort out the birth certificate, adoption and citizenship process.
Even then it took me four trips to Putrajaya before I finally managed to get Alaani's red birth certificate, in 2012. Once we received the birth certificate, we once again met up with the KDN officials to fill out our citizenship application, which we were told had to be submitted before they would help us with the formal adoption process.
Last year, we decided that we would go through court to process the adoption. It took just three months for JKM and the court to grant us the order and we wondered that as educated as we are, why we hadn't done this sooner.
Application rejected
After two years of waiting for the citizenship application to be processed, we received this letter of rejection yesterday. As I read it, it made me wonder if the officer in charge had any sense of moral responsibility about the lives that he or she was affecting when such an arbitrary decision was made.
Did this person have children? Did this person realise, for example, that when I take her to the Bird Park I have to pay foreign fees for her because she doesn't have a MyKid? Or that every time we travel overseas, my parents who are almost touching 80 have to come and babysit because Alaani does not have a passport and can't travel with us?
Until she received her birth certificate, we couldn't put her on a plane, so we drove to all our local holiday destinations. Even then it has been "Cuti-cuti" Peninsular Malaysia only with her, because she needs her MyKid for Sabah and Sarawak. What will happen when we need to look at schools for her?
Mr Prime Minister, how can it be just or fair when two Malaysian parents, who have legally gone through the government machinery and processes, be told that their child's application for citizenship is not successful without any explanation given?
And what was the officer in charge thinking of by ending his letter with "if we are still interested (masih berminat), we can submit a fresh application..." Can there even be an “if”?
I do hope Mr Prime Minister that you will look into this and do what is right.
KIM THIRUCHELVAM is a Malaysian parent of a stateless child.
Yesterday I received a letter from the Home Ministry rejecting my daughter's application for citizenship. What is most perplexing and upsetting is that our application, submitted two years ago to KDN (Home Ministry), was on the instruction of KDN. Your officers in fact helped us fill out the application form!
In March 2010, we were asked if we would consider adopting a child of a refugee, who had been abandoned in Kuantan hospital and was under the care of JKM (Welfare Department). Knowing that this child was stateless and with both of us coming from a legal background, we knew that it would be no easy journey.
Citizenship in Malaysia is after all at the absolute discretion of the home minister. Yet we went ahead because we felt that we were in a better position than most parents to deal with the challenges ahead. And we have no regrets. Our daughter, Alaani, is a beautiful child who will turn four soon.
Today however when I'm asked if I would consider adopting another stateless child, my answer is a flat "no." Simply because here in Malaysia, despite both parents being Malaysian - there is no clear process or time frame for the road to citizenship when it comes to your adopted child.
We are part of a group of Malaysian parents from all walks of life who have relieved the government's welfare system and taken on the daunting responsibility of knowingly fostering and adopting stateless children. In the wake of media reports of illegal adoptions, we have done everything by the book.
When we were first feted to a get-together by JPM (Prime Minister’s Department) and KDN at Putrajaya in 2011, what amazed me was that this group of parents came from all races and all walks of life. There was an army officer, a rubber tapper, a pastor, social workers, domestic helpers and lawyers.
Led by Dr Hartini Zainudin of Yayasan Nur-es-salam, we were promised that the relevant government agencies would help sort out the birth certificate, adoption and citizenship process.
Even then it took me four trips to Putrajaya before I finally managed to get Alaani's red birth certificate, in 2012. Once we received the birth certificate, we once again met up with the KDN officials to fill out our citizenship application, which we were told had to be submitted before they would help us with the formal adoption process.
Last year, we decided that we would go through court to process the adoption. It took just three months for JKM and the court to grant us the order and we wondered that as educated as we are, why we hadn't done this sooner.
Application rejected
After two years of waiting for the citizenship application to be processed, we received this letter of rejection yesterday. As I read it, it made me wonder if the officer in charge had any sense of moral responsibility about the lives that he or she was affecting when such an arbitrary decision was made.
Did this person have children? Did this person realise, for example, that when I take her to the Bird Park I have to pay foreign fees for her because she doesn't have a MyKid? Or that every time we travel overseas, my parents who are almost touching 80 have to come and babysit because Alaani does not have a passport and can't travel with us?
Until she received her birth certificate, we couldn't put her on a plane, so we drove to all our local holiday destinations. Even then it has been "Cuti-cuti" Peninsular Malaysia only with her, because she needs her MyKid for Sabah and Sarawak. What will happen when we need to look at schools for her?
Mr Prime Minister, how can it be just or fair when two Malaysian parents, who have legally gone through the government machinery and processes, be told that their child's application for citizenship is not successful without any explanation given?
And what was the officer in charge thinking of by ending his letter with "if we are still interested (masih berminat), we can submit a fresh application..." Can there even be an “if”?
I do hope Mr Prime Minister that you will look into this and do what is right.
KIM THIRUCHELVAM is a Malaysian parent of a stateless child.
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