On 26 November 2025, the Court of Appeal declared six individuals from the Perak family spanning three generations as Malaysian citizens, ending decades of statelessness caused by administrative and documentation failures. The ruling also confirmed a crucial legal principle, which is that stateless individuals have the right to marry in Malaysia even of they do not possess an identity card.
Three Generations Trapped in Statelessness
The case traces back to the 1970s, when the family’s documentation issues began. Although the grandmother was Malaysian, complications with birth records and the lack of a legally registered marriage created a domino effect:
The second-generation daughter was born in Malaysia but did not receive proper birth documentation.
She later married a Malaysian man through a customary ceremony. However, the National Registration Department (NRD) refused to register the marriage due to her lack of an IC.
As a result, their children were deemed “illegitimate” under old administrative practice, preventing them from inheriting their Malaysian father’s citizenship.
This unresolved status continued into the next generation, leaving six family members without recognition as citizens despite being born and raised in Malaysia.
For years, the family was denied basic rights which are education, financial aid, stable employment and identity documents because their legal status remained unidentified.
The Court of Appeal panel, led by Dato’ Mohd Nazlan bin Mohd Ghazali, ruled that the family members are citizens by operation of law, as provided under Article 14(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution and Section 1(a) of Part II of the Second Schedule.
The judges stressed that the Constitution must be interpreted in a way that protects people from unjust exclusion, especially when evidence shows they were born in Malaysia to Malaysian parents or grandparents.
Stateless Persons Can Marry Legally
One of the most significant aspects of this ruling is the court’s clarification that the right to marry is not dependent on possession of an IC. Under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976, marriages can be registered as long as the individuals are living in Malaysia. The absence of identity cards should not and legally cannot be used to deny this right. The court criticized the NRD’s previous approach, calling it an administrative barrier that perpetuated statelessness for innocent children and future generations.
The family’s lawyer noted that this decision “corrects a long-standing injustice”, as the absence of marriage registration had unjustly robbed multiple generations of their rightful citizenship. This ruling is expected to benefit many others in similar situations, particularly those whose parents or grandparents were unable to register marriages due to poverty, lack of access, or rigid administrative practices.
Source: Malay Mail
