Overseas-born children celebrate first Malaysia Day as new citizens

The Star

Many overseas-born children of Malaysian mothers joyfully celebrated their first Malaysia Day after recently being granted citizenship.  The celebration, titled "Ibu Merdeka buat Ibu Pertiwi," was organised by the non-governmental organisation Family Frontiers Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday (Sept 21) .  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00For many overseas-born children of Malaysian mothers,

00:04celebrating their first Malaysia Day after finally being granted citizenship

00:08following years of struggle is a deeply emotional milestone

00:12as they embrace their rightful place in the nation.

00:15The event, titled Ibu Merdeka Buat Ibu Pertiwi,

00:19was organized by the non-governmental organization

00:22Family Frontiers Malaysia and held on Saturday in Kuala Lumpur.

00:27It was officiated by Datuk Mahzan Mahyuddin,

00:30Deputy Secretary-General for Policy and Control at the Home Affairs Ministry.

00:34The mothers, undeterred by the long and arduous process,

00:37never gave up in their fight for their children's rights to citizenship.

00:41So we moved back to Malaysia two years ago

00:44and coming back with a non-citizen husband and daughter is not easy.

00:49And then every year since we've been back, I have to go to immigration twice.

00:54Once to do my husband's visa and then my daughter's visa.

00:57They gave my husband two years,

00:58but they refused to give my two, three-year-old daughter a two-year visa.

01:03They gave her annual.

01:06But the good news is that about a month ago,

01:09we got a letter to say that Alma's citizenship has been approved.

01:14And two weeks ago, I got her citizenship document.

01:17Between 2018 and 2023, 2024, this year, I was still waiting.

01:24And this year with the new government, they've been approving a lot of mothers.

01:29And I was one of the lucky mothers who got her citizenship approved in February of this year.

01:34I'm extremely relieved that she has it now because it makes life so much better.

01:41All the things you heard today as well, education, healthcare, all of the stuff,

01:45it's just a pressure off our mind.

01:49Family Frontier's President Adeline Adam Teo shared her joy for the mothers who succeeded.

01:53But noted that many are still fighting to secure citizenship for their children.

01:58She expressed hope that the upcoming constitutional amendment

02:01would provide the necessary support to resolve this issue.

02:04There are many mothers still affected.

02:06The mothers are in Malaysia and they are also living overseas.

02:11Their applications are still pending.

02:13We would like to see the government continue to expedite.

02:17Please treat them as priority because these are children

02:19and they're growing up every day, right?

02:21They're getting bigger and bigger.

02:23Expedite this.

02:24We also would like to urge the amendment that is coming up,

02:27the constitutional amendment, to be retroactive in nature.

Category

Transcript

Recommended