UUM Journal of Legal Studies, 13, No. 1 (January) 2022, pp: 345–380 full consideration, the Court of Appeal Judges unanimously allowed her appeal and granted the order sought. The case highlighted the interpretation and application of Article 14 (1) (b) read with Part II Section (1) para (a) of the Second Schedule of the FC, which led to the decision to grant citizenship in favour of the child at her best interest in a purposive approach. Notably, the FC does not provide any provision for stateless children or people. Hence, the absence of a legal definition or policy regarding stateless children and stateless persons in the Malaysian legislation is a grave disadvantage to the stateless children and the nation. Based on the research and interviews held with officers from the selected government departments in the Federal Government Administration at Putrajaya and the state of Sabah, it is submitted that (i) there is no official data about stateless children, and (ii) no specific law or policy regarding stateless children to provide the definition of stateless children or identification procedure on stateless children. As a result, the government and researchers could not address effectively the issues of stateless children. Essentially a positive shift is required to resolve issues and challenges pertaining to stateless children. In light of this, some underlying and fundamental considerations on the following proposals may be useful for the consideration of the Government of Malaysia: (I) Advocating Awareness on Statelessness Notably, awareness and understanding about statelessness must be available to every level of the community so that the law and policy can be set forth clearly to eradicate or prevent statelessness (UNHCR, 2015). The NGOs and government ought to collaborate more effectively to educate civil servants and civil society about the issue of statelessness (UNHCR, 2014). This will encourage the public to participate and work together with the government towards the prevention and reduction of statelessness (UNHCR, 2014). The Government and NGOs ought to promote consistently campaigns and roadshows on the importance of having birth registrations for children and new-borns, marriage registration documents for married 368

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