Stateless child Yanesha's plight nears end

VIDEO | 2.52 min

The plight of stateless child N Yanesha in getting Malaysian citizenship is nearing its end.

The National Registration Department (NRD) has given her an identity card with the classification of citizen after almost eight years.

This was revealed by her lawyer Annou Xavier (left) to High Court judge Justice Rosilah Yop today when the matter came up for hearing.

"However, the status in her birth certificate has not changed as it is still written as non-citizen."

Following this, Annou said the judge has ordered the NRD to rectify this and had until Aug 21 for the matter to be brought to court to monitor if the changes had been made.

Parties met Justice Rosilah in her chambers today.

Yanesha, now 14, said she was happy the matter is drawing to a positive conclusion.

"I am glad that I am now a Malaysian," she said in the presence of her aunts and grandmother.

Yanesha was born to a Filipina mother and a Malaysian father, and her status has been in limbo following the NRD not giving her the necessary citizenship documents.

She was born in Bandar Sunway, Selangor, on May 3, 1999, and due to doubts over her parentage she was listed as a non-citizen on her birth certificate.

This resulted in Yanesha having to face problems when enrolling in schools and sitting for public examinations, as at present, she has had to apply for a student pass which she has to renew annually from the Immigration Department.

Her relatives had tried to change her status several times since 2005.

Things turned for the worse after the mother left her and left her under the care of her aunts and grandmother.

Plight highlighted

Her plight had been highlighted early this year when her aunt, S Yogeswari, filed a suit naming the NRD director-general, the secretary-general of the Home Ministry and government as defendants.

She was seeking a declaration that Yanesha is a Malaysian citizen under Article 14 (1), 15(2) and 15A of the federal constitution, a declaration that the defendants issue a birth certificate stating that she is a citizen, a declaration that they issue her a MyKad, and an order for the NRD to register her under the National Registration Act.

It was reported that her aunt had tried to seek help from former MIC president S Samy Vellu and former Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein but to no avail.

Yanesha's father, S Nanthakumar, had a DNA test run on him and his daughter to prove his parentage last April.

This resulted in Justice Rosilah ordering the NRD to look into settling the matter last May, before it was reviewed today.