KEMAMAN, Dec 25 — A married couple is seeking the assistance of relevant parties to resolve a predicament over their adopted daughter.

The couple, Junainah Othman, 40, and husband, Zulkifli Yunus, 45, adopted the girl, the daughter of an illegal immigrant couple, when she was nine-days -old.

They claimed the adoption was in accordance with procedures stipulated by the Social Welfare Department.

Problems surfaced when they wanted to enrol Nurul Jannah Abdullah, 7, at a school for her primary studies which was turned down because the girl did not have the necessary documents, including passport.

"The school authority requires us to produce her passport and her parents’ marriage certificate, but we don’t have them,” she told reporters at her house in Kampung Ibai Penunjuk, here today.

She said, Nurul Jannah’s biological mother Noor Aishah Karsor, 32, who used to work as a maid in Pulau Kambing, Kuala Terengganu, had been deported to Indonesia, while the whereabouts of her father, a Bangladeshi, was unknown.

Nurul Jannah was born at the Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital, she said.

Junainah said she and her husband had been to the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur three times to apply a passport for Nurul Jannah, but was unsuccessful.

The couple had also been to the National Registration Department to apply for Malaysian citizenship for Nurul Jannah, but their application was also rejected.

As a temporary measure, the couples has enrolled Nurul Jannah at a private religious school, Sekolah Rendah Islam Darul Takwa, here, to continue her schoolong.

"The fee is high, but we do not want Nurul Jannah to miss out on her studies. She has potential,” chipped in Zulkifli. — Bernama