Mastura showing evidence of her daughter’s birth certificate while Jasmih looks on yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: A single mother is beginning to feel the pressure, especially now with the Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examination is fast approaching.
In fact, Olivia Julius @ Mastura Anizan has had enough of pushing from the relevant authorities.
For the past three years, she has been going to the National Registration Department (NRD) and court, as ordered, to get her 15-year-old daughter, Nurul Hamizah Yasmin, the MyKad she deserves.
“I have had enough of all this. I am given the same excuse every time, and after spending so much time and money, my daughter is still left without a MyKad.
“It is pressuring us both especially with Nurul Hamizah sitting for her PMR examination this year. Her teacher has been asking for her MyKad for registration purposes,” she said.
Mastura added that she had once submitted Nurul Hamizah’s birth certificate with some supporting documents to the school, but it was rejected.
She explained that the reason given was because Nurul Hamizah’s birth certificate was stamped with ‘late registration’.
“I had fallen sick after giving birth to Nurul Hamizah, I could not move much for about four months, and after I healed up, it took me another four months to save up enough money to register for her birth certificate. That is why there is the ‘late registration’ stamp on her document.
“When she was 12, I took her to NRD to apply for her MyKad. Her application was rejected and I was advised to go to court to verify the birth certificate,” said Mastura.
She did just that on September 2, 2010 and brought the matter to the court. She was advised to wait for their call.
“I have been waiting for three years, and I never got that call from the court. I have, in fact, gone to court to check the status of my application, and I always get the same excuse … they would tell me that there are a lot of backlog cases since 2009, and I have to wait for my turn,” she said.
Mastura also disclosed that she had turned to Karambunai assemblywoman Datuk Jainab Ahmad Ayid for help, but till today, she has not received any response from her side.
She also referred her case to the Public Complaints Bureau and Sabah Law Association; the first had asked her to deal with the courts herself while SLA advised Mastura to write to the High Court here.
“The Kota Kinabalu High Court had rejected my letter, with the excuse that my case should be dealt at the lower court and my application for document has been forwarded to Putrajaya.
“I just do not understand why it takes years to settle this thing. The wait has caused my daughter to suffer, she is humiliated by friends, and she was nearly arrested for failing to show her MyKad. The worst is that she may not be able to sit for her PMR exam just because of all these delays.
“I do not earn much, and there is not much I can do with the little money I make as a part-time beautician. I have four children, including one with special needs,” said the frustrated mother.
Mastura, however, is not ready to give up hope yet, and now turned to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) yesterday for help.
She was referred to the Sabah Suhakam office here by Gabungan NGO (Non-Governemntal Organisations) Menuntut Hak Rakyat Sabah, or Gegar in short.
Sabah Suhakam Office assistant secretary Jasmih Slamat during a press conference yesterday said they would be contacting the relevant authorities to listen to their side of the story.
“This is clearly a case where a person’s right is violated. It seems that Mastura was never briefed of the situation, and instead pushed around from one department to another, and yet, they never seemed to provide her with positive response. It is just inhuman.
“Almost all the time, we are faced with a similar problem, and we cannot just reject a complaint without listening to both part of the story. We will forward the case to the NRD director and Home Ministry based on the merit, and what the mother and daughter had gone through … this is denial of their rights,” he said.
Jasmih added that in 2011, they received 12 reports of similar complaints, related to birth certificates, while 15 reports on citizenship.
“We are just happy that NGOs are beginning to take notice of such cases … this shows that the people are beginning to understand their rights,” he said.