Homegrown Statelessness in Malaysia the birth of his child. He stated that he was married before the child was born. While attending the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (the National Registration Department) to seek permission to marry a foreign spouse, 11S told the officer that his wife was pregnant and that it was a difficult pregnancy. The officer told him they could register the marriage after the baby was born but did not advise of the consequences of doing this. 11S was angry that the officer advised him of this. He stated that he would have made the effort to register the marriage before the child was born despite difficulties his wife was having. 11S explained he has applied three times for his son’s citizenship. He applied in 2012 and again in 2014 and both applications were rejected without reasons. 11S made another application during a registration drive in Penang in February 2018. 103 13S (Malaysian citizen of Chinese ethnicity) is the father of a stateless child from a relationship with a Chinese woman from China. He was not married to the mother of his child because he was still married to his first wife at the time the child was born. The mother of the child has since returned to China and has no contact with the child. 13S applied for citizenship on behalf of his son in 2013 and waited two years until he received a rejection with no reasons. He was told to just apply again when he went to the registration office to inquire why the application was rejected. He submitted another application during a registration drive in Penang in February 2018. 104 Similarly, 12S (Malaysian citizen of Chinese ethnicity) is a father who has two children that are stateless because he was not married to a woman with foreign nationality (Thai). Like 11S and 13S, he was applying on behalf of his children during a registration drive in Penang in February 2018. 105 18S is a Balinese woman with Indonesian citizenship. She is married to a Malaysian citizen and has two children, one of whom is stateless. She stated that her oldest child is stateless because the child was born after her marriage was registered, and also because the child was registered late (seven months after the birth). 18S explained that she thought that once the marriage was registered, there would be no problem with her oldest child getting citizenship. She has been waiting for five years for a decision. 106 4L is representing a client that was born before her Malaysian father and Papua New Guinean mother were married. She helped her clients put together an originating summons to obtain a declaration for citizenship. At the High Court level, the Court found that the marriage was not legitimised at the time of birth and therefore the child’s citizenship follows the mother’s. The decision was appealed at the Court of Appeal of Malaysia and was allowed. 107 The matter is now pending at the Federal Court of Malaysia (the highest court in Malaysia). 4L explained that she had worked on another case with similar facts where the High Court granted a legitimacy order (recognising the child as that of the father’s even though the parents are not married) but refused to recognise the child’s Malaysian citizenship. 4L explained that they are now applying for citizenship with the declaration of legitimacy, hoping this will lead to a positive outcome. 108 103 104 105 106 107 108 Appendix Table 2, Interview with 11S. Appendix Table 2, Interview with 13S. Appendix Table 2, Interview with 12S. Appendix Table 2, Interview with 18S. Madhuvita, (n 99). Appendix Table 3, Interview with 2L. 117