Stateless STPM top scorer excited to begin classes

Three months ago, lawyer N Surendran had highlighted the plight of several stateless persons including that of a top STPM scorer Roisah Abdullah.

She had scored 3As and 1B to become the top student at her school, but Surendran said her future is bleak because of her lack of documentation.

However, Roisah’s fortunes appear to have taken a turn for the better since her case had been highlighted, and she is now looking forward to starting classes at a private university next week.

When contacted, she said she is currently undergoing orientation week at Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UniRazak).

“The orientation program today is about getting to know the university and bringing us around Kuala Lumpur to better know KL and how to get around. I was like tiba-tiba masuk bandar(suddenly I’m in the middle of a city)

“So yeah, it was fun - more discussions about how campus life and things like that.

“Yes (I’m excited to start class). This is the first time I’m going to university so I’m looking forward to studying and living in university,” she told Malaysiakini while giggling on the phone.

Previously, Surendran had said that Roisah was born in a clinic in Klang to an unknown father and a mother who is a foreigner. She was adopted by a Malay family shortly after and was raised in Malaysia.

She had applied for citizenship multiple times, the last of which was made in March 2013. She finally received a response rejecting her application in a letter dated Jan 16, 2018.

Surendran had said that Rosiah (photo) ought to have been automatically granted citizenship by operation of law since she was born in the country. 

Rosiah said at the time of the press conference, she had already applied to study in public universities through the Ministry of Education’s University Placement Unit (UPU), but was not expecting a response.

After her plight had been highlighted, she said she was contacted with offers from UniRazak and University of Reading Malaysia, even though she did not apply to study in either university.

“I was surprised I got the offer from the two private universities. I just wanted to sort out the citizenship to apply to the UPU in August. After the news came out, I’ve got a few calls from the UniRazak and the University of Reading,” she said.

She eventually opted to study at UniRazak, which offered her a place to do a bachelor’s degree in accounting with a full scholarship and a monthly allowance.

According to a report by Bernama in March, Roisah had also been offered placement at Universiti Utara Malaysia. 

Despite the excitement of starting campus life, she said there is one thing that excites her even more, which is to obtain her Malaysian citizenship.

“My lawyers told me there isn’t going to be a big problem and there will be good news.

“Actually, I’m more excited about the IC thing (than starting classes) because even in a private university, you still need your IC.

“When they asked, I was like, ‘Umm…’ and I had to explain everything,” she said.

Lawyer Latheefa Koya, who is also representing Roisah together with Surendran, confirmed that they are still pursuing to resolve her citizenship issue. -Mkini