Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2019 1(1) they were successful in obtaining citizenship for the child. 5L has represented several other persons in similar situations. 128 These cases highlight how a lack of proper documentation and adoption intersect to create administratively stateless persons. Finally, some persons who were eligible for citizenship by virtue of their long-standing residence since pre-independence also were children who were adopted in plantations by persons who were not their biological parents. 129 The dual reason of being a descendant of a plantation worker and being adopted complicates a case to ask for citizenship. THE MIRAGE OF A FLOOD: DE FACTO CITIZENS IN MALAYSIA The identification of the six categories of stateless persons in Malaysia help us to understand who are stateless persons. This exploratory study suggests that persons who fall within five of the six categories are persons born in Malaysia and have long-standing residence in Malaysia thus indicating a genuine and effective link with the country. Further, the study also suggests that persons in the five of the six categories may also have at least one lawful parent that is a Malaysian citizen, another factor suggesting genuine and effective link to Malaysia. This suggests that the five of the six categories of stateless persons consist of people who did not cross borders, are not foreigners and are not migrants but rather persons who have genuine, effective and substantial links to Malaysia. There may be legal preoccupation with how the Federal Constitution can be interpreted so as to not open the floodgates to migrants so to speak. 130 The argument that interpreting the law as it is plainly stated would open the floodgates has no merit for three reasons. A The Law of Interpretation — Public Policy is Irrelevant Here The first is an interpretation reason. Where the text of the Federal Constitution is not clear or express, public policy issues such as whether or not a particular interpretation may lead to unintended consequences may play a role. However, where legal text is clear and express, there is no need to consider public policy. Legal practitioners should follow what is stated, and the law is clear for the five categories of stateless persons in Malaysia. B Majority of Stateless Persons Have Genuine, Effective and Substantial Links The second reason is that there is no flood beyond the gates. This paper does not do the work to resolve the number of people that are stateless in Malaysia, which has been a contested subject of debate in public and political discourse. 131 Instead, the research suggests the number is irrelevant. The focus, as this initial 128 129 130 131 Appendix Table 3, Interview with 5L. Appendix Table 3, Interview with 12NGO. Appendix Table 3, Interview with 5L. See, eg, Eric Paulsen, ‘Time to Resolve Malaysian Indian Statelessness’, (Lawyers for Liberty, 25 April 2012) <http://www.lawyersforliberty.org/time-to-resolve-malaysianindian-statelessness/>. 122