Raya bliss for mum, child after years of citizenship battle

GEORGE TOWN – This year’s Hari Raya Aidilfitri has been special for many Malaysians as they rid the shackles of the Covid-19 pandemic to celebrate the annual holiday with their families and friends in their hometowns for the first time in two years.

But for Fariza Ariffin, the annual celebration is even more meaningful as it is the first Raya her 6-year-old daughter will spend as a Malaysian citizen.

The 42-year-old single mother said it had been a difficult journey to citizenship for her daughter, who she had adopted in 2016 from an Indonesian woman looking to give up her then-unborn child to anyone willing to take her.

“The baby girl was supposed to be adopted by a couple from Singapore, but they didn’t know it was illegal to take a child out of Malaysia as it would be considered child trafficking,” Fariza told The Vibes.

“I was also afraid of what was going to happen to the baby now that no one wanted her, and I didn’t want her to fall into the wrong hands, like the hands of a child trafficker or a syndicate that sells babies, so I quickly made my decision to adopt.”

Fariza took the child in just days after she was born, but that marked the beginning of their ordeal that would last several years.

The child’s biological mother disappeared despite promising to hand over the baby’s passport, and when Fariza approached the Immigration Department to begin the process of securing citizenship she was told to come back after two years.

Fariza said she brought her daughter to Miri, Sarawak, in 2019 to celebrate Raya at her brother-in-law’s hometown but ended up being detained for questioning for one-and-a-half hours as her daughter was stateless.

They were later allowed to stay, on condition that they returned to Penang on the date as stated in their return flight ticket, she said.

On their return home, Fariza said she had then planned to secure Indonesian citizenship for her daughter at the advice of the Penang government.

Thinking all was well, they planned to go on a holiday to Vietnam right after her daughter’s passport was issued. But before they could even get on their flight, Fariza said she was told by the Immigration Department that her daughter had overstayed in Malaysia and would be deported.

I freaked out and I broke down because she was only given five days, I was going to lose my daughter in five days,” she said.

Fariza said the Immigration Department told her she just needed to bring her daughter to Indonesia and return the next day to renew her social visit pass, a process that needed to be repeated every few months.

But when she checked with Indonesia’s immigration authorities – on the advice of her sister – Fariza said she was told that they could enter Indonesia, but she would have to return to Malaysia without her daughter.

Malaysia’s Immigration Director-General Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It was at this point that Fariza said she was introduced to Datuk Hartini Zainudin, the co-founder of Yayasan Chow Kit, who intervened and helped negotiate with the Home Ministry, which eventually issued a social visit pass for her daughter that would be renewed annually instead of every few months.

It took a few more years of effort, but Fariza finally secured her daughter’s citizenship in November last year.

“When I got the letter from Putrajaya, I didn’t get my hopes up because I was tricked too many times,” she said.

“That said, I am so blessed that my daughter is now a Malaysian citizen, and we celebrate it every day, more so this year because it is her first Raya – and I still can’t believe it because she is only 6.”

While they saw light at the end of their tunnel, Fariza urged the government to make it easier for other children to secure Malaysian citizenship to ensure their rights are upheld and protected. – The Vibes, May 5, 2022