Father pleads to NRD for stateless children to be declared citizens

GEORGE TOWN: All he wanted is for his three children to go to school but his ordeal began early last year when the school head informed him that they cannot pursue their education due to them being declared stateless.
M. Vengadeswaran, 44, said the school head asked him to go to the state Education Department to sort out the problem, which he did.
"I also went to the National Registration Department (NRD) to check the status of my children. I also did a DNA test to prove that they are my children as the birth certificate does not have my name or my wife's or the citizenship," he told reporters outside Penang Education Department headquarters recently.
He said after his visit to the NRD, his children were allowed to resume their schooling but it only lasted for five months and his application which had the DNA results attached, was rejected in November last year.
"So when my children went back to school early this month, they were told to go home," he said.
Vengadeswaran's children Suriya,12, Agilandaswari,11 and Thuranayagi,10 hope the authorities would look into their plight and allow them to go back to school.
According to M. Ganeson, president of non-governmental organisation Freedom, the Education Ministry Director-General Datuk Seri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof had said that all undocumented children are allowed to enroll in school, provided one of their parents is a Malaysian.
"What is unique in this case is that Vengadesawaran's DNA matching was done by the Government's Chemistry Department and yet NRD refused to accept it when it was sufficient to meet the requirements for granting citizenship to the children based on the provision in the Federal Constitution," he said.
Ganeson said if Vengadeswaran's applications are still rejected, then the matter would be filed in court.
"All we want is for the NRD to give the children citizenship status as their father is a Malaysian citizen so that they can go back to school," he added.