Boundless Horizons | Lee Sok Wah: Please Save the Helpless Adoptive Parents
Dear Prime Minister / Home Minister / Minister of Women, Family, and Community Development / Minister of Justice,
First and foremost, I extend my congratulations to our nation for the recent Cabinet reshuffle under the leadership of Prime Minister Anwar. I understand the Prime Minister’s heartfelt desire to alleviate the hardships faced by the people through the new Cabinet members. However, as a lawyer, I must bring to the Prime Minister’s attention with a heavy heart that while our people extend boundless sympathy to the Palestinians, countless innocent adoptive parents in our country are suffering due to their lack of understanding of adoption laws. This has resulted in children becoming stateless, and adoptive parents being brought to court on criminal charges.
What wrong have these adoptive parents committed? They provide a warm home for abandoned children and nurture talents for the nation with love. Why then are these children, upon applying for a blue identity card at age 12, stripped of their Malaysian citizenship because their skin color differs from that of their adoptive parents? These parents are shocked and scared by the government’s harsh treatment, and the children, suddenly turned stateless, resent their adoptive parents. The government has not helped these unwitting offenders escape their plight, but rather prosecuted them in court. This has even driven some children to the brink of despair, attempting to end their lives. Is this the cold outcome the government desires?
I hope the Anwar administration will see the pain of these adoptive parents. Prior to the change in government, adoptive parents were never brought to court for the innocent mistake of listing themselves as biological parents on the child’s birth certificate. In assisting adoptive parents with children who suddenly become stateless, I found many of them in a state of anxiety. They desperately seek legal avenues to correct past mistakes, but Prime Minister, do you know that very few officials can provide them with correct guidance, causing some to miss the opportunity to legally adopt their children before they turn 21?
The children, unable to understand their adoptive parents’ good intentions, blame them for the hardships faced due to their statelessness. Adoptive parents regret their decision to adopt, worrying about their children’s citizenship even in old age. Prime Minister, these mental agonies faced by adoptive parents and children could be entirely avoided.
Firstly, the government should educate the public on the proper legal procedures for adopting children, which involves obtaining an adoption order from the court, not listing themselves as biological parents on the birth certificate. If ignorant adoptive parents make the mistake of listing themselves as biological parents, officials at the National Registration Department (JPN) should have sufficient legal knowledge to guide them to correct the error in court.
Unfortunately, many adoptive parents have not received such assistance. They run around in vain, proving that many government officials also lack this legal knowledge. In my cases, I found some adoptive parents, in gratitude for officials who did not make their differing skin color an issue, gave these officials monetary rewards, only to be prosecuted by the anti-corruption agency as criminals. If adoptive parents knew the severe consequences of adopting children, would they have dared to adopt in the first place?
Dear Prime Minister, while Western societies continuously encourage and financially support families to adopt orphans (understanding that orphanages cannot provide the warmth of a family), I do not understand why our government troubles our adoptive parents. Since adoptive parents are Malaysian citizens and these children have grown up and been educated in Malaysia, they have no other home on this earth. It is only just for the government to grant them citizenship.
Yet, the Home Ministry always gives lawyers the same response: issuing citizenship is a serious matter that cannot be rushed and requires time for review. This so-called time could mean a child’s entire lifetime. We cannot accept the government’s perfunctory attitude.
Finally, I urge the current government to show mercy and stop prosecuting innocent adoptive parents. Allow them to correct the birth certificate information and obtain a court adoption order, followed by applying for the child’s Malaysian citizenship. These cumbersome procedures are already a sufficient punishment for the adoptive parents.
Sincerely, Lee Sok Wah
