In court, woman born in Pahang to Muslim refugee parents from Cambodia bids to join siblings as Malaysian
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 — The Court of Appeal heard yesterday an appeal by a 35-year-old woman — born in a Pahang refugee camp to parents who were Muslim refugees from Cambodia — to be recognised as a citizen of Malaysia.
She was then subsequently given a MyKas or a green identity card — introduced since 1990 by Malaysia for non-citizens who have temporary resident status — and allowed to renew it several times before being denied subsequently. Over the years, she had also made multiple attempts to obtain Malaysian citizenship status.
Article 14 states that those who are born after Malaysia was formed and who fulfill any of the conditions in Part II of the Second Schedule are citizens by operation of law or entitled to be Malaysians, with one of the conditions being Section 1 which is that a person born within Malaysia “who is not born a citizen of any country”.
The judges examined Azimah’s birth certificate issued in June 1986, where she was stated as being a non-citizen and with her race stated as Cambodian, and where her parents were recorded with the same details and with “maklumat tidak diperolehi” stated for the parents’ identification documents. In the affidavit sworn on behalf of all three respondents, the NRD’s citizenship division director claimed that Azimah is not a stateless person that would qualify her to acquire Malaysian citizenship by operation of law, stating that Azimah should make efforts to obtain a passport or other documents to “return to Cambodia and obtain citizenship in Cambodia, since at her birth her parents were still of Cambodian nationality”.
Responding to the argument that Azimah’s parents’ nationality was uncertain at her time of birth, senior federal counsel Nik Mohd Noor Nik Kar who represented the Malaysian government then argued it was not disputed at the High Court that her parents’ citizenship was Cambodian. Court of Appeal judge Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said then highlighted that would be the case under ordinary situations, but noted that Azimah’s case relates to refugees coming to Malaysia who definitely could not return to their home country and who were given protection by the Malaysian government.
Nik Mohd Noor cited the 1986 entry permit as documentation to show that Azimah’s father’s nationality was Cambodian at that time, arguing that the burden has now shifted on Azimah to show that her parents were not Cambodians and to show that she and her parents were stateless. Judge Vazeer also said it cannot be assumed that Azimah’s parents were Cambodians because they left Cambodia, noting that Myanmar for example does not recognise Rohingyas who left the country as being its citizens.
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