A 67-YEAR-OLD woman today obtained leave from the Kuala Lumpur High Court to initiate judicial review proceedings to challenge the Home Ministry’s decision in rejecting her application to get Malaysian citizenship.

Judge Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid allowed the application by the woman, who has seven children, after her lawyer, Larissa Ann Louis, informed the court that the Attorney-General’s Chambers, through a letter dated January 3, did not object to it.

The judge then fixed January 19 for case management.

The woman filed the application on November 22 last year, naming the Home Ministry secretary-general, the National Registration Department (NRD) director-general and the government as the first to third respondents.

She is seeking, among others, a declaration that the decision by the defendants in rejecting her application to get a Malaysian citizenship in a letter dated August 23 last year is null and void.

Based on an affidavit filed in the court, the woman said she was born in 1955 at Hospital Teluk Anson in Perak, but was abandoned by her biological mother and was raised by her adoptive Malaysian parents. Her biological parents are now deceased.

She was married in 1974 to a man who is stateless but held a permanent resident status, and they have seven children. Her husband died in 2016.

In 2017, she applied to the NRD for Malaysian citizenship by naturalisation under article 19 of the Federal Constitution, but her application was rejected on August 23 last year with no reason given. – Bernama, January 4, 2023.