On May 20, the High Court in Taiping ruled that Kamaladevi Kanniappan, her two children, and her three grandchildren, who are all stateless, should be recognized as Malaysians. The court also affirmed that Kamaladevi and her daughter have the right to register their marriages with the National Registration Department (NRD).
Kamaladevi's mother, Letchimee, who had only a birth certificate and no Malaysian identity card, could not register her marriage to a Malaysian man, resulting in her children, including Kamaladevi, becoming stateless. Under Malaysian law, children from unregistered marriages are considered illegitimate and their citizenship status follows their mother's, meaning they do not automatically gain Malaysian citizenship even if their father is Malaysian.
This situation persisted across generations, leaving Kamaladevi's children and grandchildren stateless as well. Non-Muslim marriages in Malaysia from March 1, 1982, must be registered under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 to be valid. A legally valid marriage between a stateless woman and a Malaysian man would allow their children to inherit Malaysian citizenship.
The Perak family’s lawyers argued that the 1976 law grants everyone, not just Malaysians, the right to register their marriages. They also cited a government circular stating that personal identification documents are not required for marriage registration. The judge agreed, noting that the 1976 law does not prohibit the solemnization and registration of stateless persons' marriages and that the NRD should not have refused to register the marriages of Kamaladevi's mother, Kamaladevi, and her daughter due to their lack of identification cards. The judge attributed the non-registration of Letchimee's marriage to illiteracy and lack of legal awareness.
The court acknowledged that the Perak family had suffered generational statelessness and hardship, despite being born in Malaysia, due to their lack of ICs and unregistered marriages. Kamaladevi had described their struggles with limited education, job opportunities, and higher medical costs. The judge ruled that the government's refusal to grant citizenship violated the family’s right to life under Article 5 of the Federal Constitution, emphasizing that citizenship is a fundamental right.
Malaysian citizenship would provide the family with opportunities for a better life. However, their legal battle continues as the Malaysian government filed an appeal against the High Court's decision on June 14. The case management at the Court of Appeal is scheduled for September 12, with no hearing date set yet.
