A tearful Lau explains their plight to reporters. Also seen are Rachel and Sia.
KUCHING: The adoptive mother of a stateless 19-year-old girl from Sibu has tearfully appealed to the Home Ministry to grant her citizenship.
Lau Kui Fua explained that she adopted Rachel Sia in 1999 when the latter was just a few days old.
Rachel had a birth certificate, but when she was 12, the National Registration Department discovered it was a forgery.
Although a new birth certificate was issued, it did not contain any parental information as Rachel’s biological parents could not be traced.
As such, Rachel could not be issued with an identity card and was unable to sit for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia.
Yesterday, Lau, her husband Sia Chew Ong, and Rachel were present during a ceremony by Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah to hand over citizenship to 23 applicants.
Accompanying them was Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Bandar Kuching head Simon Siah.
He explained that the family had previously sent in four applications to JPN for Rachel’s citizenship, with the most recent being in 2017.
“Given the situation she is in, she is stuck and could not go any further. How long will she have to wait or how many rejections does she have to go through before finally ending her wait to become a Malaysian citizen?” Siah asked.
Fatimah, who heads a Special Committee on Citizenship Status for Sarawak under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution, said the committee would look into Rachel’s case.
“Our committee will recommend Rachel. We will recommend based on merit, but the final decision and approval lies with the Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin,” she pointed out.
She stressed that the committee does not have the power to award citizenship.