KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 — Perak-born Velmurugan, 38, has lived in Malaysia his whole life as a stateless person and just wants to be recognised as a Malaysian.
Being stateless has caused him much emotional and mental distress, and he has faced difficulties such as finding a permanent job, opening bank accounts and applying for a driver’s license.
Why is Velmurugan still stateless today? One big reason is illiteracy or the lack of education of those who lived in estates.
Velmurugan’s grandmother was born in Perak but her citizenship status in official records is undetermined.
Velmurugan’s mother Balamah was said to be born in Kuala on December 31, 1952... pre-Merdeka.
Velmurugan was born in February 1987 at the Ladang Escot Ulu Bernam plantation in Tanjung Malim.
Both Velmurugan and his mother did not have birth certificates as their births were only registered with the NRD in 2011 and in 2019.
Based on court documents, this was due to his mother not knowing of the need to register his birth as she was uneducated.
Velmurugan himself has never attended school.
The National Registration Department (NRD) recorded Balamah’s citizenship status as not determined yet, as there were inconsistencies among witness testimonies about her birthplace and number of siblings.
However, Balamah’s siblings who were born pre-Merdeka had been registered as Malaysians, and a DNA test had verified Balamah is the biological sister to her Malaysian sibling and that Velmurugan is the biological child of Balamah.
Velmurugan said that his mother was entitled to be a Malaysian as she was born here and had never become a citizen of any other country.
In a statutory declaration dated September 1, 2023, Velmurugan had said he was working on applying for his mother’s citizenship under the Federal Constitution’s Article 16.
Under Article 16, those born in Malaysia before Merdeka Day can be registered as Malaysians, if they apply to the federal government and if they fulfill certain conditions such as having good character.
Balamah died on January 27, 2024.
In March 2024, the Felda Sungai Klah settlement’s Development and Security Committee (JKKR) had in a letter vouched for Velmurugan who was living and working there.
The Felda JKKR said Velmurugan is the nephew of a Felda settler there, and that he is a responsible man of good character who had cared for his mother up until her death and was caring for his family well.
Velmurugan married a Malaysian woman, which meant all his five children were able to avoid being stateless and are all Malaysians.
Velmurugan filed his court challenge on April 19, 2024 to be declared a Malaysian and to change his “non-citizen” status in his birth certificate, but lost at the High Court on May 19, 2025.
Velmurugan argued he should automatically be a Malaysian under the Federal Constitution, as he was born in Malaysia and was not born a citizen of another country.
But the High Court said Velmurugan needs to first prove that his mother was a Malaysian.
Saying that the facts do not show his mother was a Malaysian, the High Court said Velmurugan would be a non-citizen just like his mother.
Today, the Court of Appeal panel will hear Velmurugan’s appeal against the High Court’s decision.
The Court of Appeal will today also hear five other citizenship cases which had touched on some of the same citizenship laws as Velmurugan, but are markedly different in facts as their mothers are citizens of other countries.
What are the other five citizenship cases?
All five cases share similar facts: Children born in Malaysia, but are recorded as “non-citizen” because their Malaysian father and non-Malaysian mother were not married when they were born.
In all five cases, these children had tried to apply for Malaysian citizenship many times under the Federal Constitution’s Article 15A, but kept getting rejected.
Under Article 15A, the Malaysian government has the power to decide whether to register those below age 21 as citizens.
But there is no guarantee of success, as the government can just say no again and again, without giving any reason.
While they can keep applying, these children often have to wait for years for the government’s decision, which reduces the number of chances they have to apply since Article 15A comes with an age limit.
Just like J, who will be turning 30 this year, and has tried four times:
- First try in May 2009 (at age 12), rejected in December 2010.
- Second try in 2011, rejected in 2012.
- Third try in 2013, rejected in 2015.
- Fourth try in November 2015 (at age 19), rejected in April 2021 (at age 24).
After all the rejections, these five children were forced to go to court to seek to be declared as Malaysians.
Why the High Court said the five cannot be Malaysians
Because the parents were not married when these children were born, the High Court said these children are “illegitimate” children born out of wedlock or outside a marriage.
Based on the Federal Constitution, the High Court said children born outside of a marriage can only inherit their non-Malaysian mother’s citizenship, and cannot inherit their Malaysian father’s citizenship.
But if the children had been born when their parents were married, they would be legitimate children and can inherit their Malaysian father’s citizenship.
The High Court also disagreed that these children would be stateless if they are not recognised as Malaysians, as it said the children would follow their non-Malaysian mother’s citizenship.
This is despite the children saying they are not citizens of any country in the world, with some of them even successfully getting confirmation from Indonesia’s and the Philippines’ embassies that they did not get citizenship or passports from those countries.
Why is citizenship so important for these children?
As stateless persons without Malaysian citizenship, they are not able to do many things, including:
- to apply for a driving licence,
- open bank accounts,
- apply for loans or do online transactions,
- buy properties,
- buy insurance policies.
Based on court documents of some of these five cases, they also face challenges such as having to pay more for medical treatment in government clinics and hospitals, furthering their studies at universities, finding jobs, a future with no certainty and possible negative impact on their next generation.
This is on top of their past experience of being teased by schoolmates for not being a Malaysian, and having had their schools question their citizenship status every time a new school year begins.
Recommended reading:
- Reality check for Malaysia-born stateless children on ‘special citizenship’ route
- Why Malaysia-born illegitimate children with foreign mothers are stateless
- Born in Malaysia pre-Merdeka but still no IC: Why they need police’s security screening when applying for citizenship
- Becoming a Malaysian officially: Five things you need to know about the ‘good character’ test
- Is your BM fluent enough to be a Malaysian? Six things to know
