Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat CJ:

Introduction

[1] This appeal concerns essentially the question of the entitlement of a child, who was abandoned at birth and later adopted, to Malaysian citizenship by operation of law.

[2] The two appellants in this case are CCH and ADY. In addition to being joint litigation representatives, the first appellant is the adoptive father and the 2nd appellant the adoptive mother of their adopted child CYM. For ease of reference we shall refer to both adoptive parents as the 'appellants', and to CYM as the 'Child'. We have redacted their names in order to maintain anonymity.

[3] The respondent is the Registrar-General of Births and Deaths of Malaysia, a department that operates under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of Malaysia.

[4] This case began when the appellants filed an application for judicial review against the respondent in the High Court seeking for the following reliefs:

"1. A declaration that [name redacted], a child ("Child") is a citizen of Malaysia by operation of law by virtue of his birth within the Federation of Malaysia pursuant to art 14(1)(b), Part II s 1 paragraph (e) and s 2(3) of the Second Schedule of the Fe