While football fans debate the lineage of seven heritage footballers sanctioned by Fifa over allegations of ‘doctored documentation’, five siblings in Kuala Lumpur have finally received their MyKad after years of uncertainty.
The achievement came after the tireless efforts of former journalist and editor Sheila Rahman Natarajan (main image, seated), who took up their cause eight years ago.
Unlike the fast-tracked approval given to the seven footballers – Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces, Rodrigo Julian Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo, Jon Irazábal Iraurgui, and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano – the quintet, whose foreign mother abandoned them and their Malaysian father, Ee Sun Seng, had been left in limbo for years.
The siblings – Ee Ting Sang, 20, Ee Si May, 18, Ee Ting Fok, 17, Ee Ting Kat, 15, and Ee Ting Choi, 13 – faced an uphill battle until Sheila intervened.
“It sounds like a cliche, but it does take a village to raise children. The community in my neighbourhood chipped in to help the kids. We wouldn’t be here without the ‘aunties and uncles’ of Bandar Menjalara, Kepong,” said Sheila, one of the winners of the National Press Club of Malaysia (NPC)-Macrokiosk Muhibbah Award in 2023 for her devotion to the siblings.
“It wasn’t an easy process. My ‘children’ are lucky to have received their MyKad. Although this is a happy moment, it is a little bittersweet as I know there are thousands of others – children and adults – who are still in limbo. We need better laws to help them.”
The siblings’ journey began in 2017, when Sheila first encountered them roaming aimlessly in her neighbourhood.
“Left without their mother’s care and with their father struggling to make ends meet, they were confined to a single room that served as their kitchen, dining area, and bedroom. And they were very quiet, which was not a good sign,” Sheila told Twentytwo13.
Sheila and her husband, Abdul Rahman Ishak, obtained the father’s consent to care for the children while he worked.
Starting in 2018, formalising the children’s citizenship involved relentless paperwork, countless trips to the Welfare Department and the National Registration Department, and tonnes of red tape.
Their efforts led to a court-sanctioned guardianship in 2019, followed by the issuance of ‘Bukan Warganegara’ (non-citizen) birth certificates for the children in 2021.
After a thorough assessment by the Social Welfare Department, their father legally adopted them in 2022, a prerequisite for a citizenship application.
Applications for citizenship were submitted in July 2022, marking a major step toward securing their rightful place as Malaysian citizens.
Finally, after years of effort, the children received their MyKad, an official identity card marking their transition from statelessness to belonging.
