PUTRAJAYA, Oct 25 — The Federal Court allowed the postponement of the appeal by three stateless, Malaysian-born individuals seeking citizenship to November 26.

Two others who were part of the appeal have withdrawn as the Home Ministry has decided to offer them citizenship.

The decision was made by a nine-judge panel headed by Chief Justice of Malaysia Tan Sri Richard Malanjum.

Senior lawyer Datuk Cyrus Das, representing two of the three individuals aged 17 and 18, said he is satisfied with the outcome of today’s hearing.

"The two of them will have to put in their application under Article 15a of the Federal Application, to register as a Malaysian citizen by persons below 21 years old, under special circumstances,” he told reporters outside the courtroom.

If the outcome of the hearing on November 26 is not in favour of his clients, Das said they would proceed with the appeals.

"The appeals will possibly be withdrawn if it is favourable, but it depends because we are hoping for unconditional approval and are reasonably confident in it since it was approved in the other cases,” he said.

Lawyer Latheefa Koya, representing two clients aged eight and 18, said her first client had been informed by the Home Ministry that it is willing to consider the citizenship application under Article 15a as well.

"However the ministry requested additional information on the boy’s mother, who had abandoned him and his Malaysian father when he was six months old, to determine if she does not reside in the country.

"Although the information was provided when the appeal was first made in 2012 the ministry said it was not received, so we are prepared to resend the information as requested,” she said.

Latheefa added that similar to Das, if her client is offered citizenship then the appeal will be withdrawn but if not it will be argued again on November 26.

Her 18-year old client withdrew his appeal as he had just obtained the letter from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) offering him citizenship application under Article 15a, two days prior.

"The letter approving his citizenship just came in today. An earlier appeal made under Article 15a was rejected, and the letter mentions this decision by the ministry has been cancelled out,” Latheefa said.

Lawyer Ranee Sreedharan, representing a 13-year-old girl, said her client has similarly been issued a letter approving her citizenship application under Article 15a.

"The appeal was made two years ago, where we first applied to the High Court for legitimacy as her Malaysian father and Papua New Guinean mother were married when she was two months old.

"From there we obtained a partial order and went to the Court of Appeal, which decided in our favour and stated the child is entitled to citizenship,” she said.

The AGC appealed to the Federal Court over the decision but subsequently withdrew it, leaving the Court of Appeal’s decision standing.

"With this application approval letter, her father just has to apply and obtain his daughter’s citizenship and MyKad,” Ranee said.

The names of the five individuals have been withheld, per the request of their lawyers.