IPOH, April 17 — A retiree came one step closer to his dream of registering as a voter after he was able to confirm his Malaysian citizenship with the help of MCA.
After years of struggle, Cheang Chin Kok, 74, got his MyKad last Wednesday.
“I feel happy because after years of waiting for my right to Malaysian citizenship, I finally got my MyKad and I can register as a voter now.
“But I can’t vote in this general election as it’s already too late to register as a voter. I hope I can vote in the next election,” he told Malay Mail.
Cheang was born in 1944 and only had an extracted birth certificate stating “Register of Birth in the State of Perak”.
After Merdeka, Cheang was issued a certified birth certificate, but this lacked crucial information such as his parents’ details.
Because of this, he had not been able to obtain a MyKad as authorities said his citizenship could not be positively determined.
Cheang, who worked in a shoe company for about 50 years, said he had never been able to travel abroad as he also could not have a passport.
Ipoh Timur MCA Wanita chairman Kathleen Wong Mei Yin, who assisted Cheang in getting his MyKad, said that the problem could have occurred during the transition from paper to digital records.
Wong said that she wrote to the NRD’s director general about Cheang’s problem and attached the birth certificate and other documents, after they which they generated his identity number and invited him for an interview at their Meru office.
“After the process, Cheang finally got his MyKad,” she said, urging others in similar situations to go through the proper channels.
“There are a lot of similar cases among the Chinese and Indian community here and we advise them to come and see us instead of going through a middleman,” she said.
