The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court ruling that a 37-year-old woman who was abandoned at birth in 1989 is a Malaysian citizen by operation of law, dismissing an appeal by the government.
A three-member panel led by Justice Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril, sitting with Justices Datuk Ismail Brahim and Datuk Dean Wayne Daly, delivered its decision in Putrajaya on Friday (Nov 13) and ordered the appellants to pay the woman RM10,000 in costs. The appellants were the director-general of the National Registration Department (NRD), the home minister, the Home Ministry and the government of Malaysia.
The woman was found abandoned shortly after birth in May 1989 in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, and was raised by adoptive parents. An adoption order was made in 2009, but her citizenship status was recorded as undetermined, and the NRD later issued her a temporary identity card stating that she was not a citizen.
The court agreed with the High Court that she qualified for citizenship under Article 14(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution, read with Section 1(a) of Part II and Section 19B of Part III of the Second Schedule.
Section 19B provides that a newborn child found abandoned in any place is presumed, unless the contrary is shown, to have been born there to a mother who was permanently resident there.
In the judgment, Justice Firuz said Section 19B must be interpreted broadly to protect newborn children abandoned by mothers whose identities are unknown. He said the government had not produced enough evidence to rebut the presumption, and that the mere fact that the woman’s biological parents could not be identified was not enough to do so.
“We are therefore satisfied that the respondent is a Malaysian citizen by operation of law,” he said.
The court made clear that being adopted by Malaysian citizens does not in itself give a child citizenship. The woman’s entitlement came from the constitutional presumption for abandoned newborns, it said, following the approach laid down by the Federal Court in 2022 in CCH & Anor v Pendaftar Besar bagi Kelahiran dan Kematian, Malaysia.
Although costs are usually not awarded in public interest cases, the court said the woman’s legal team had put research and preparation into responding to the appeal.
The case is one of several in recent years in which the courts have been asked to decide the citizenship of people found abandoned as babies, a question that affects their access to identity documents and public services. Earlier this month, the High Court in Kota Bharu ruled in a separate case that a stateless man’s citizenship followed his Thai mother rather than his Malaysian father.
This article is general information, not legal advice. For advice on your own situation, speak to a lawyer.