Homegrown Statelessness in Malaysia Children born of women who are not Malaysian citizens, and who were not legally married to the father (who is a Malaysian citizen) may not be recognised as citizens. 1S spoke to me about how his stateless status resulted from an alternative family arrangement where his father, a Malaysian citizen of Chinese descent, was married to his first wife, but engaged in a relationship with his mother, a Filipino citizen. 1S was born in Sabah, Malaysia, but because 1S’s parents were not married and his mother is not a Malaysian citizen, his birth certificate indicated he did not have any status. 1S’s parents are both deceased: his father died when he was around 8 years old and his mother died when he was around 15 years old. 1S has applied for citizenship twice. His first application was rejected, and his second application, submitted in 2014, is still under consideration. 1S indicated to me that he was born in Malaysia and has never been to the Philippines and has no connection to the Philippines. 93 13S (Chinese descent with Malaysian citizenship) is the father of a young child from a relationship he had with a Thai woman. 13S was not married and his daughter was born in Thailand. 13S stated that he went to Thailand to bring his child back to Malaysia and, before doing so, obtained a birth certificate in Thailand. When the child was two years old, 13S tried to obtain citizenship for his daughter but an officer at the registration office said that he did not have the requisite documents. 13S made efforts to visit the Thai embassy to have the documents he had translated and authenticated, but even with this, the registration office denied him the opportunity to apply for citizenship. 13S found out about a registration drive happening in Penang and decided to come to see if he could apply for citizenship. He applied for citizenship on behalf of his daughter during this event and is awaiting an answer. 94 3L told me that in her legal practice, most stateless cases involve mixed marriages. For example, she explained that she had a number of clients who were Chinese men who married Indonesian, Thai, Cambodian or Filipino women. 3L spoke about one successful case she worked on where she was representing a Chinese man who had a child with a Filipino woman. The mother of the child is no longer in the child’s life and he could not trace or find her. This child was able to obtain citizenship by originating summons, seeking a declaration he was a citizen. 95 3L said she is currently representing another Chinese man who has a child with a Filipino woman. She detailed how her client applied for citizenship for the child three times and each time he was rejected. This case is pending in the court system. 96 2 Children Born Out of Wedlock or before a Marriage Was Registered Children who have two parents who were not married at the time of their birth may find themselves stateless despite the fact one parent may be a Malaysian 93 94 95 96 Appendix Table 2, Interview with 1S. Appendix Table 2, Interview with 13S. Navin A/L Moorthy v Ketua Pengarah Pendaftaran Negara, Malaysia & Ors Malaysia (Unreported, High Court of Malaya, Originating Summons No: 24NCvC-2011-12/2013); Ida Lim, ‘After 17 Years, Stateless Teen Finally Recognised As Malaysian’ Malaysia Mail Online (6 April 2016) <http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/after-17years-stateless-teen-finally-recognised-as-malaysian>. Appendix Table 3, Interview with 3L. 115