Hundreds of stateless folk hope to get citizenship
JOHOR BARU: Karthiga was only five years old when her only family member, her grandmother, passed away.
“My mum left me and my late grandmother when I was a toddler and I didn't know who my biological father was,” she said.
Following the death of her grandmother, her neighbour took care of her but they had to give her away due to financial constraints.
The 19-year-old has never attended school as she does not have a birth certificate and Karthiga now lives with L. Rani, 38, in Kulai.
She is among hundreds of state- less people who came to a temple here with the hope of getting Malaysian citizenship.
“We have been trying to get her citizenship since she started living with us about five years ago but no good news until now,” said Rani.
Mother-of-two Nazrana Omar from Sabah said she had been travelling from one state to another for years to get citizenship.
“I'm worried for the future of my eight-year-old son who is also stateless and unable to attend government school,” she said.
Sabahan Almaida Maid, 25, said no one wanted to hire her permanently as she did not have proper documentation.
Johor Consumerism, Human Resources and Unity Committee chairman Dr S.Ramakrishnan said the campaign to assist the stateless people was organised with Develop- ment of Human Resource in Rural Areas.
“We will try our best to assist them in getting citizenship,” he said.