Photo: Michealyeoh.com
For Wong Kueng Hei, this is a situation he can relate to. He has been living as a stateless man for the past 11 years, until the Kuala Lumpur High Court finally granted him citizenship yesterday.
The 24 year old man was born in Sabah to a Sarawakian father, and his mother is believed to be an Indonesian. Unfortunately, both his parents died when he was a teenager and he was taken care of by a family friend after that.
Wong’s lawyer pleaded for his citizenship under Article 14 (1)(b) of the Federal Constitution, which states that every person born in Malaysia, but is not a citizen of any country, can apply as a citizen by operation of law.
Photo: The Star
“I didn’t expect the judge to rule in my favour. I have come here, thinking to myself, one day, I will walk out of this court as a Malaysian. I didn’t expect today to be the day. I’m happy to be a Malaysian but at the same time, I feel sad because the country still has no solution for stateless people, which has been a long-standing issue. I hope my victory will pave the way for others to pursue their case, ” the overjoyed Wong said.
Justice Datuk Nordin Hassan granted him Malaysian citizenship yesterday and ordered the National Registration Department (NRD) to issue him an identity card.
According to The Star, Wong’s lawyer Haijan Omar, said that this was the first time a stateless person has been granted citizenship. “I’ve checked with the Malayan Law Journal and there were no other cases reported for adults under the same circumstances, ” he said.
“Other stateless children have different circumstances – they were adopted and their adoptive parents wanted them to get citizenship. But in Wong’s case, it’s different, he is an adult and has to fight on his own,” he added.
Wong had previously applied for an identity card in 2008, but was given a new birth certificate that said he was a non-citizen instead. He only has a copy of his father’s MyKad but without his parents’ marriage certificate, he would be considered an illegitimate child and thus, his citizenship would have to be according to his mother’s nationality.
2 years ago, in December 2017, Wong then applied for a special one-month permit from the Sabah Immigration to fly to Kuala Lumpur and is now the only known stateless Sabahan to have successfully achieved citizenship.
We love happy endings, and hope there will be a solution for other similar cases!
By: Celestine Foo
