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MEDIA STATEMENT -
27/4/2005
(Translated from the original statement, which was in the Malay
language) RESPECT CHILD
RIGHTS AND ALLOW US TO CONTINUE LIVING IN MALAYSIA AS A FAMILY We, Maruly Aziz Bin Abd Mutalib(age
12+ years), Sarah Nor Varah Hanim Binti Abd Mutalib (11+), Yonatan Adam Fauzi
Bin Abd Mutalib (9+) and Ismael Syah Putra (6 +) are the children of Abd Mutalib
Bin Taib (Permanent Resident) and Romita Hasibuan. We, Maruly Aziz Bin Abd
Mutalib(12+), Sarah Nor Varah Hanim Binti Abd Mutalib (11+), Yonatan Adam Fauzi
Bin Abd Mutalib (9+) and Ismael Syah Putra (6 +) are all Malaysian citizens, and
was born here and have lived all our lives in Malaysia. We go to school in
Malaysia, and all our friends are in Malaysia. Now, we are faced with the risk of
being separated from our father, and in a few months from our mother. The
Immigration Department and the National Registration Department are now
threathening to deport our father to Indonesia, and our mother who resides in
Malaysia by virtue of a �spouse visa� may also be forced to leave to Indonesia
after her current visa expires. We may have no choice but to have to
leave our mother land, Malaysia, and follow our parents back to a foreign
nation. This means that we will lose our identity and our citizenship. We will
become stateless. We will lose all our friends and our education and schooling will be
disrupted. It is our wish and desire that we,
together with our parents, be able to continue LIVE in Malaysia, our
country. Our father, Abd Mutalib Bin Taib,
came to Malaysia since 1978. Since the early 80s, our father legally applied for an identity card and did
obtain a valid identity card with a �Permanent Resident� status which was issued
by the National Registration Department. On 7-4-2000, he did apply for and
get the new version of the Identity
Card from the National Registration Department. In 2004, he applied for and was
issued the �Mykad�(being the new form of the Malaysian Identity Card) by the
National Registration Department. A recent search done at the National
Registration Department, dated 8-4-2005, disclosed that my father�s identity
card was valid and active. On 15-3-2005, my father accompanied
me, Maruly Aziz, to the the National Registration Department to apply for my
identity card. The officers of the National Registration Department then asked
my father to come back again on 23-3-2005 and bring along some additional
documents. On 23-3-2005, when I and my father
returned to the National Registration Department, my father was suddenly
arrested and was thereafter detained at the KLIA(Kuala Lumpur International
Airport) Immigration Depot
. The officers at the national
Registration Department and the Immigration Department informed my mother that
my fathers identity card had been revoked and cancelled, and that my father
would be deported to Indonesia in the near future. The officers also told my mother
that she too may have to return back to Indonesia when her �spouse visa� expires
in September 2005. With regard to us, the children, the
said officers said that we could continue to live in Malaysia with an adopted
family. This is most unfair/unjust as what they were suggesting was that we, the
children, will be separated from our parents, and our family will be
broken-up. Alternatively, the officer said that
we,the children, could follow our parents back to Indonesia. This would mean
that we will become stateless. We, the children, will become foreign migrants in
Indonesia. Malaysia has signed and ratified
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and now
Malaysia has the obligation to protect and respect the rights of the child,
which includes :- a)
the
right to acquire a nationality and
to preserve his or her identity, including nationality (Article 7 &
8) a)
the
right to know and be cared for by his or her parents (article
7) a)
the right to have
family
relations preserved (Article
8) a)
the right
not
be separated from his or her parents against their will, and the State has a
duty to ensure this (Article 9) Our father has been in Malaysia with
a valid identity card, our mother with a valid spouse visa, and all us children
with a valid Malaysian passport and has had numerous dealings with various
government departments, whereby until now there has never been any question or
dispute as to our status and/or our
citizenship, or the status
of our parents. The representation given by these government bodies, which we
have all relied on, was that the status and/or citizenship was legally right and
indisputable. Therefore, it was very unjust to
suddenly on 23-3-2005, to suddenly raise the issue that our father can no longer remain in
Malaysia and ought to be sent back. I must state that the reasons as to
why this should happen was not given at all. The vague reasons given was that
�my father was no longer needed by Malaysia� but as to reasons why this decision
was made was not at all given. If my father had committed an
offence, then he should be charged in Court, where he would have an opportunity
to defend himself, and the Courts will ultimately make a
decision. It is a great injustice for a person
like my father who have lived legally in Malaysia for almost 25 years, who is a
good person, a good father, a good husband to my mother, to suddenly now become
a victim when his identity card is seized and he is arrested, detained, and
possibly deported back to Indonesia if SUHAKAM (Malaysia�s Human Rights
Commission) fail to do something fast to prevent this
injustice. Our father must be given the
opportunity to defend himself in Court if he is alleged to have committed some
offence against the law. We, today, make this appeal and complaint to SUHAKAM with the hope that SUHAKAM will ensure that our rights are respected, protected and no more violated. In addition, we would also like to
state that since our father has been arrested and detained, 36 days have
passed, and to date our father has not yet been brought before the
Magistrate. We wish to state that Federal
Constitution prohibits a person being detained for more than 24 hours after he
is arrested unless he is broght before a Magistrate and the said Majistrate
gives an order for further detention. Even if, the person is not a citizen
and has been arrested under immigration laws, he can only be detained for 14
days, and thereafter he can only be detained for a further period only on
authority of a Magistrate�s order. Considering the fact that our father
has been in detention for 36 days, his rights guaranteed by the Federal
Constitution have been violated, Justice is demanded. We urge that our father be
immediately released having regard to his guaranteed rights under the
Malaysian Federal Constitution. We appeal to SUHAKAM to immediately
look into our case and to immediately do the necessary to ensure that this
injustice and this denial or violation of rights is not further prolonged. We also sincerely hope that the
Director General of Immigration, the National Registration Department, the
Ministry of Home Affairs and/or the Government of Malaysia do not deport our
father to Indonesia by reason of anger with our action of sending this
Memorandum of Appeal to SUHAKAM. We call for the support of all
Malaysians that upholds justice and human rights to support our family�s
struggle for our rights and for us to continue to live in Malaysia as one loving
family. Maruly Aziz Bin Abd Mutalib Sarah Nor Varah Hanim Binti Abd Mutalib
Yonatan Adam Fauzi Bin Abd Mutalib
Ismael Syah Putra Romita
Hasibuan Dated:- 27 April 2005 Note:
For
further clarification and/or additional information, please contact our family
lawyer, Mr Charles Hector
(019-2371100) from Messrs Charles Hector & Co. (Tel: 03-79581844,
e-mail: ) NOTES: a) This
statement was read out by 12-year old Maruly Aziz Bin
Abd Mutalib at SUHAKAM when the Memorandum of Appeal was handed over to SUHAKAM
on 27/4/2005 at about 10.15am. ------------------------------------------------ ADIL-Net will remain a Free Forum until further notice. Disclaimer: The opinions and views posted are not necessarily that of the list owner's or ADIL's -------------------------------------------------- Send a blank e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - to subscribe to the list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - to unsubscribe from the list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - to switch your subscription to normal [EMAIL PROTECTED] - to switch your subscription to digest ADIL Homepage: http://members.easyspace.com/reformasi/ Yahoo! Groups Links
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