DPM, please help these boys
I AM the cofounder of Yayasan Chow Kit, an NGO in Kuala Lumpur that provides direct services for vulnerable children in and around the Chow Kit area. We also do advocacy and lobbying for the rights of all children in Malaysia.
I am writing to Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, our Home Minister, on behalf of two brothers, Mohd Amirul Abdullah (nine) and Mohd Amizan Abdullah (10). Their biological mother, whom we believe is Indonesian, had a relationship with a Malaysian man. They were not married. The mother used, what we believe, were fake documents to enter the country and there is no record of her with the Indonesian embassy nor can she be traced. The father is out of the picture and in jail. The boys have no legal documents to show nationality and they are registered as stateless on their birth certificates.
The boys were given to their neighbour when they were two and three years old. The neighbour took care of them for two years before giving them to the Welfare Department (JKM). JKM handed the boys, who were then five and six, to Yayasan Chow Kit and they’ve been with us ever since.
We are trying to look for Malaysian parents to adopt the boys. Earlier, we found a couple with biological daughters of their own who were willing to take them. We went through the adoption process and the couple took the boys home. But less than a month later, the boys were returned to us because the couple felt it was too difficult to take care of them.
A couple of years later, through Orphancare (another NGO working with JKM) we found an expatriate family, American–Mexican Muslim converts, living in Malaysia who were willing to adopt the boys. They had previously adopted a little girl with special needs from JKM so we felt they would be suitable candidates to adopt the stateless boys.
The application to adopt was sent to JKM but there was no response for a year. In the meantime, the couple and their daughter visited with the boys and began the process of fostering them. They have been a part of the boys’ lives for nearly two years now.
After careful study and legal counsel, the family found that it is not possible to legally adopt the boys and secure citizenship for them here in Malaysia nor in Mexico so they contracted a United States adoption agency to secure US government approval to take the boys to Texas for adoption and to secure US citizenship. In September 2016, the US Government approved their application so they moved to Texas to establish a temporary home to receive and adopt the boys.
They have relentlessly pursued JKM in writing on their application to adopt. JKM never responded to their application so the couple took JKM to court. In September 2016, the court rejected their application for custody and JKM tried to take the boys away from them.
Since then, the couple has written to the US embassy, hired an immigration lawyer and stayed in touch with Yayasan Chow Kit as we work on persuading JKM to change their minds and allow the couple to take the boys to Texas for adoption.
Recently, JKM listed a set of requirements, which the couple must adhere to. The couple will comply with the requirements but some of them can’t be fulfilled without a letter of approval from JKM to take the boys to Texas. So we are in a “chicken and egg” situation now.
More worrying is the fact that there is a deadline on the US side for the couple to submit their application to adopt the boys. The deadline is Nov 24, 2017 (in two week’s time) and there is no extension.
What needs to happen is for JKM to apply to the court to set aside its decision rejecting the application for custody and recommend that the couple be allowed to foster the boys and take them to the United States.
The couple has submitted proof they are Muslims and has asked an Islamic centre in Texas to provide classes for the boys until the adoption process is complete. They will submit monthly reports to JKM on the progress of the boys and meet JKM’s demand that proof be submitted on how the boys will be raised as good Muslims.
The boys are stateless, not Malaysians. As such, there is little hope for them to get a good education or a family willing to adopt them together. They will be separated when the older boy turns 12 (the maximum age of children in our shelter) and will be taken back by JKM to be sent to a government home. It’s not the best option for these boys when they have this better option to be good, successful citizens albeit elsewhere. Who will apply for their citizenship for them unless they have a guardian or fit parent recognised by the Government? If they are not allowed to be adopted by this family, then please give them citizenship so they can be productive citizens when they grow up.
These boys have suffered rejection after rejection through the system and we are begging our Home Minister to intervene and help expedite their adoption. The couple is willing to adhere to whatever requirements you set for them but they cannot come back to Malaysia to work while waiting for approval after the customary two-year period in Muslim cases.
In the interest of time, we were wondering if we could meet with the minister personally to explain how dire the situation is for the boys.
I personally need to know that I’ve tried everything to ensure the lives of these two are better. It is not their fault that they were born under such miserable circumstances.