Come meet us for advice, NRD tells stateless siblings

The National Registration Department (NRD) has urged four stateless siblings, despite being born in Malaysia to a Malaysian father, to meet the department for further action.

"The NRD would like to seek cooperation from Aziq Fadyan and his younger siblings to come to NRD to enable us to get the facts and status of the case, in order to study the case and give the necessary advice regarding obtaining citizenship," the department said in a statement last night.

NRD was responding to a Malaysiakini report regarding the plight of 24-year-old Aziq, and his three younger siblings, Azreen Batrisya, 22, Azzahra Batrisya, 12, and Azalea Batrisya, nine, who were denied citizenship, even though their parents were married before they were born.

Their father, Fadil Saharudin, who recently died, was a Malaysian and their mother is an Indonesian citizen.

They solemnised their marriage in Indonesia and Malaysia in 1998 before the children were born.

Aziq and Azreen told a press conference arranged by human rights group Lawyers For Liberty (LFL) that they were told by their secondary school to stop schooling because they do not have identity cards.

In the statement, NRD also urged the public to not sensationalise the case, as it only tells "one side of the story" and sheds a negative light on the government.

"The NRD's process is bound to the Federal Constitution and existing laws. Any questions regarding citizenship or other services provided by NRD are advised to be done at the department's 212 offices nationwide, rather than via middlepersons or media platforms.

"The NRD will always assist and give appropriate advice to every application, and every individual issue requires different solutions,” the statement said. - Mkini