The court ruled that a child not proven to be abandoned cannot claim citizenship by operation of law under the Federal Constitution, emphasizing the importance of truthful representation in legal proceedings.

JUDGMENT

Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh J:

The Factual Background

[1] The plaintiffs' narration of events is as follows. The 1st plaintiff ("the Child") was born on 28 May 2008 at Ng Specialist Maternity Centre, Muar, Johor ("the Clinic"). According to the 2nd plaintiff, the Child was abandoned at the Clinic by her biological mother. This assertion is disputed by the defendants and will be addressed in the later part of this judgment.

[2] The 2nd plaintiffs father-in-law ("the father-in-law"), now deceased, came to know that the Child was abandoned at the Clinic and decided to take the Child back to the 2nd plaintiff for her to be adopted.

[3] The father-in-law then went to the National Registration Department ("JPN") in Johor to apply for the Child's birth certificate. The JPN then issued the 1st birth certificate to the Child. In the 1st birth certificate, the column under the status of citizenship states "Warganegara" or "Citizen".

[4] Upon reaching 12 years old, the 2nd plaintiff brought the Child to the JPN for the MyKad application. However, the JPN discovered that something was amiss with the application since the facial image of the Child did not match that of the 2nd plaintiff and her alleged biological father, Yee Young Seng ("Yee").

[5] The Child's application for MyKad was then referred to the Investigation and Enforcement Division of JPN, Johor. The JPN also initiated an investigation on the Clinic and sought further information on the record of the Child's birth. In a letter dated 23 September 2020, the Clinic, through Dr Ng Cheng Hwa, wrote to the JPN and confirmed that the Clinic had no records of the Child's birth. The letter inter alia states as follows:

Sukacita saya mengesahkan bahawa kelahiran tersebut di atas TIDAK ADA dalam rekod perubatan pesakit NG SPECIALIST MATERNITY CENTRE.

[6] The JPN then initiated the investigation against the 2nd plaintiff and recorded her statement. Unfortunately, no statement could be recorded from Encik Yee because he was working in China. From the statement recorded from the 2nd plaintiff, the JPN discovered as follows:

(a) The Child was adopted by the 2nd plaintiff.

(b) The father-in-law brought the Child to the 2nd plaintiff at her home when the Child was about one month old.

(c) The 2nd plaintiff was unaware of the date and place of birth of the Child.

(d) The 2nd plaintiff admitted having given false information to the JPN at the time of the application of the 1st birth certificate:

Q21: Adakah kamu mengaku salah memberi maklumat palsu semasa mendaftarkan kelahiran?

A: Ya, saya mengaku.

[7] In view of the false information given by Encik Yee prior to the issuance of the 1st birth certificate, the 2nd plaintiff then filed an application for correction in the register of birth under the Births and Deaths Registration Rules 2019. The JPN acceded to this application and rectified the information on the Child's birth certificate. Following the rectification exercise, the JPN issued a new birth certificate to the Child with the information on the parents unknown and the citizenship status as "non-citizen" ("the 2nd birth certificate").

[8] The JPN also made a follow-up investigation on the letter dated 23 September 2020 issued by the Clinic. Dr Ng Cheng Hwa was called by the JPN for his statement to be recorded since the application form prior to the issuance of the 1st birth certificate stated that he was the doctor in attendance at the time of the Child's birth.

[9] In the recorded statement, Dr Ng Cheng Hwa asserted that the 2nd plaintiff never attended the Clinic to get medical attention in respect of the alleged delivery of the Child. Dr Ng also confirmed that the signature that appeared on the application form did not belong to him. He then said as follows:

Pasti tanda tangan bukan milik saya.

Berdasarkan pemerhatian saya cop pada borang ini pun bukan dari Klinik saya kerana No telefon yang berbeza. Untuk makluman No telefon semenjak Ng Specialist Maternity Centre operasi sehingga disambung d