THE founder of a pondok school has appealed to the authorities to release his adopted son from the Langkap Immigration Detention Centre after he was arrested four years ago for not having identification papers.

Mohamad Tarudi Bahari, 68, said R. Tayalan@Mohd Farid, 28, had a document from the National Registration Department (NRD) stating he was a Malaysian citizen.

“Mohd Farid was detained in 2019 and I only found out about it when he contacted me from the detention centre in 2022.

“He was arrested and handed over to the Immigration Department because he could not produce an identity card,” Tarudi said at a press conference here today.

Tarudi said Farid registered as a student with Pondok Al-Jaafar, Gua Tempurung using his birth certificate, adding that his son was not issued an identity card because of incomplete information about his mother’s identity card.

He said efforts were made to track down Farid’s biological father, Ramachandran, who was serving a jail term at the time, and the details of the mother’s identification number.

“We went to the NRD in Putrajaya on June 14 with a statutory declaration of the mother’s identification card number to add to Farid’s birth certificate.

“The NRD system confirmed the details of Farid’s birth at Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang Selangor, but the new birth certificate will be issued at the end of September,” he said.

He said the copy of the birth certificate issued by the NRD confirmed that Farid was Malaysian and could be released from the detention centre.

However, he was told by Immigration officials that Farid would only be released when his original birth certificate was produced. – Bernama, August 8, 2023.