Indonesian mother loses bid to declare son citizen

 

The High Court dismissed a suit filed by an Indonesian woman, who is married to a Malaysian, for the national registration department to issue her youngest son with an identity card.

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has dismissed a suit filed by an Indonesian mother seeking a declaration that her 13-year-old son is a Malaysian citizen.

Justice Amarjeet Singh, who delivered the ruling via email to the parties, however, did not provide any reason for his decision.

He also made no order as to costs in the case.

Lawyer A Srimurugan, who represented the mother in the case, said he has been instructed to file an appeal.

In the originating summons filed in January, the mother had asked that the court direct the director-general of the national registration department (JPN) to issue an identity card to her son upon the boy turning 12.

She also wanted an order compelling JPN to return her son’s birth certificate which is in the department’s possession.

The mother, who is married to a Malaysian, had also named the federal government as defendant.

In an affidavit in support of her suit, the mother said she had married her husband in 2000 and that they have two children. Their second son was born on Jan 13, 2010.

Both children were issued birth certificates as their father is a Malaysian citizen.

However, she said that last year, JPN rejected her husband’s application for an identity card for the younger boy and seized his birth certificate.

The mother said she fears that, without an identity card, her son would be denied free education, free access to health facilities and a Malaysian passport to travel abroad.

She also confirmed that her son was not a citizen of any other country and had not made any application to any foreign state for citizenship.

In his affidavit in reply, former JPN director-general Ruslin Jusoh, who now helms the immigration department, said the parents had been told to undergo DNA tests to prove the boy’s paternity, but had refused.

Ruslin said the couple had brought the boy to the JPN branch at Jalan Duta here last year where officers noted that his features and complexion did not match those of the couple.

Three months later, JPN’s investigations and enforcement division recorded a statement from the couple and advised them to take the test which the boy’s parents rejected, Ruslin said.

At the hearing on Aug 16, Srimurugan had submitted that JPN has no power to order the DNA tests under the National Registration Act 1959 or the National Registration Regulations 1990.

Senior federal counsel Nur Idayu Amir submitted that the DNA test results were necessary to determine paternity. - FMT