KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — After four years in a legal limbo, a 16-year-old boy will learn if he will finally qualify to be listed as Malaysian citizen when the High Court decides his case next month.

High Court judge Justice Datuk Hue Siew Kheng set June 20 to get further clarification on submissions by Navin Moorthy’s lawyers and the senior federal counsel, before making a decision on the same day.

Annou Xavier, who is acting for Navin, argued that the there is no reason for the government not to register the boy as a citizen, citing Article 15A of the Federal Constitution that provides special powers to the federal administration to register anyone under 21 years of age as a citizen.

He added that even if Malaysia has not drawn up any laws that adopt provisions under the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), it is still bound by the principles of the convention as the country had already ratified it in 1995.

“The best interests of a child shall be a primary consideration under Article 3 of the convention,” he told journalists outside the court after submissions were made in chambers.

Navin is suing the Director-General of the National Registration Department, the Home Ministry and the federal government over his citizenship status.

In his submissions, he claims that he was initially issued a birth certificate that listed him as a citizen when he was born on July 8, 1998, but found that his status was later changed to “Bukan Warganegara” or non-citizen.

Navin, who was born to a Malaysian father and Filipino mother, is also listed as a citizen in his Malaysian passport issued by the Immigration Department.

His businessman father, R. Moorthy, had applied twice with the NRD for his son’s citizenship, but claims that both applications were rejected by the Home Ministry.

Navin is seeking a declaration that he is a Malaysian citizen under Articles 14 and/or 15A of the Federal Constitution, and that he be issued a birth certificate and MyKad stating that he is a citizen.