Bravo, DSSN and team!

I HAVE JUST received yet another heartfelt `thank you' note addressed to the Minister of Home Affairs, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

This time, it came from a mother of two—her children are about the same age as mine. A year ago, she received a message I had shared encouraging anyone who knew of stateless individuals to urge them to apply for Malaysian citizenship.

Although she herself was not stateless, she had been waiting for 14 long years for her Entry Permit, which would qualify her to apply for her Permanent Residency (PR) in Malaysia.

In Malaysia, the spouse of a citizen must first be granted the Entry Permit (Permit Masuk) before he / she is eligible to apply for a red MyPR identity card, which officially confirms the Permanent Resident status.

You can imagine her joy—being the wife of a Malaysian citizen, she is now looking forward to be a Malaysian PR. After over a decade of building a life here, this is where her home and family are. She is fully accustomed to the Malaysian way of life and has no reason to uproot herself and return to Indonesia to start over.

Her children now have even more reason to feel proud of their mother—who is no longer a mere visitor, but now, very much part of the Malaysian fabrics of life.

This milestone would not have been possible without the leadership of Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution as Minister of Home Affairs, and the political will of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Madani government.

Since the formation of Malaysia in 1963, very few—if any—home ministers have given serious attention to the plight of the stateless and those caught in long, bureaucratic limbo as this mother. I am happy for her.

The best part is she only has to pay small sum for the processing fees payable to the National Registration Department. I believe this will give her an occasion to celebrate with her family this weeknend.

In the past, stories like this Indonesian mother’s were too often met with silence or outright rejection, often without any stated reasons.

All credit goes to Saifuddin and his dedicated team at MOHA. Bravo!

Hopefully, Datuk Seri, you get to read this blogpost!

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