A five-year-old suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after she was almost separated from her Malaysian mother when barred from boarding a flight to Malaysia, her mother said.
Her mother, Dr Yap Chng Yung, said she had opted to return home from Taiwan to serve the Health Ministry as a dental officer.
However, her daughter, who was born in Taiwan, was barred from boarding the flight because the girl was not Malaysian.
This is despite Yap having applied for Malaysian citizenship for the child since she was four months old.
When Yap tried to return home with her daughter in September 2020, non-Malaysians were not allowed in without a special travel pass due to Covid-19 restrictions.
“After the incident, she suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, afraid to be left behind…
“Whenever her mother is not around, she would be anxious and start crying,” she said in a video uploaded on Twitter by advocacy group Family Frontiers.
As her daughter was denied boarding, Yap remained in Taiwan until a travel pass was issued to the child in late February last year.
The duo arrived in Malaysia on March 21, 2021.
“Only six months after we safely returned to Malaysia that her PTSD gradually eased off,” Yap said.
Fear of deportation
The dentist said she chose to return to Malaysia to serve in the Health Ministry at the height of the pandemic because she believed her skills would be of use in her homeland.
“I love my country and my people...
“I gave up high-paying job offers in Taiwan and returned to Malaysia to serve the country as a Health Ministry frontliner, to combat the pandemic with my experience and expertise,” she said.
In return, she has to live with the fear of her daughter’s potential deportation as she is not a citizen, Yap said.
Family Frontiers said Yap is one of many Malaysian mothers still waiting for citizenship for their overseas-born children.
Family Frontiers is an advocacy group lobbying among others for citizenship rights of children born of Malaysian mothers overseas.
In 2020, Family Frontiers with six Malaysian mothers filed a constitutional challenge at the Kuala Lumpur High Court seeking a declaration that Malaysian women married to foreign spouses can confer citizenship to children born abroad.
On Sept 9 last year, the High Court held that Malaysian mothers can confer citizenship on children born abroad.
The court found that the Article in the Federal Constitution used to bar mothers from conferring citizenship to overseas-born children, should be read in harmony with Articles that bar discrimination on the basis of gender.
The government filed an appeal against the decision and sought a stay of execution of the High Court’s order.
The Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the government’s application for a stay of execution of the High Court’s decision.
However, Family Frontiers said Malaysian mothers are still waiting on the results of their applications for citizenship for their overseas-born children.
The Court of Appeal will decide on the government’s appeal on the High Court’s decision to allow mothers to confer citizenship to overseas-born children on June 22. - Mkini
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