KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 ― A timely intervention by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) offers a glimmer of hope to Klang-born but stateless STPM ace Roisah Abdullah who is hoping to further her studies at a local university and contribute to the country she loves so much.
The 21-year-old STPM top scorer will be meeting Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh later today.
“We will make arrangements for her to get into that place. UUM will offer her a place to study,” Idris told Malay Mail when contacted last night, referring to Universiti Utara Malaysia, Roisah’s university of choice.
“We’re contacting DPM’s office for document of stay. I will bring her to see DPM about her statelessness tomorrow afternoon,” he added.
The MOHE agreed to “do its very best” to help Roisah with her enrolment application, just hours after reading about her plight in Malay Mail yesterday.
It is a seldom heard of chance for the majority of stateless youths here.
Roisah is also seeking a meeting with the Home Ministry today. Its minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also deputy prime minister, has the discretionary power to approve applications for citizenship on a case-by-case basis, a power vested in him under the Federal Constitution.
This would be a dream come true for Roisah who told Malay Mail yesterday that all she had ever wanted was to be recognised as a citizen of her birth country, the only one she calls “home”, so that she can contribute to its progress.
Zahid had said earlier this year that stateless children would be allowed to attend school pending their applications for citizenship, but did not state if this also extended to local universities which Roisah is trying to enter.
Roisah was thankful when told that Idris wanted to meet her and discuss her university application.
“I can only thank the minister for showing concern and his willingness to help me.
“My main priority is still to obtain my citizenship. But this opportunity to enter a university is something I am very thankful for,” she told Malay Mail.
She also expressed surprise at the outpouring of support from Malaysians after her story was highlighted in the media.
“It was shocking, and I never expected it to become this big. Even my family and friends, who have been my base of support all these years, were equally surprised at the reactions,” she said, adding that she felt encouraged by their words.
“To think that these strangers whom I have never met could be so kind, their touchingly kind sentiments only serve to propel me further.”
Roisah or just Roi to her friends, was born to a foreign mother and a Malaysian father who was absent from the start.
She was officially adopted shortly after birth by a Malaysian woman named Satrah Nabowah, who was 61 when she died in 2014. She had raised and fought for Roisah to attend public school but was unable to get the girl Malaysian citizenship.
“Authorities said because they could not ascertain who my father was, since he left when I was born, they could not issue me a Malaysian citizenship,” she told Malay Mail in an earlier interview.
“But I do not belong anywhere else, if I don’t have Malaysia, what do I have?” she added.
Her greatest fear now is that she may not be able to put the three distinctions she earned in the STPM to further use.
The former SMK Sungai Kapar Indah science stream student also excelled in her earlier exams, scoring 9As for PMR and 7As for SPM.
