SIBU: Bukit Assek assemblyman Irene Chang will not leave any stone unturned in her quest to help a stateless girl get her MyKad.
The girl – Chieng Mei Mei – is a top student in the 2018 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia exams from SMK St Elizabeth here.
She scored 10As – 4A+ in Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry; As in Bahasa Malaysia, English, History and Moral; and A- in Chemistry and Biology.
In her Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 exams, she scored 7As, 1B and 1C.
After collecting her result slip on March 14, Mei Mei was worried that her ambition to become a teacher would be dashed as she does not have personal documents to allow her to enter local public universities.
Mei Mei, 18, said she had personally applied for the documents twice ̶ since her Primary Six ̶ but was unsuccessful.
The eldest in the family of three girls, Mei Mei said she and her 15-year-old sister are stateless since birth while her youngest sister, seven, is a Malaysian as she has all the documents.
“My father is a local from here while my mother is an Indonesian from Kalimantan. Both did not have a marriage certificate when my sister and I were born. They only obtained the certificate before my youngest sister was born.”
Meanwhile, Chang said Mei Mei has a birth certificate already, issued on May 10, 2001.
“However, her nationality in her birth certificate is Indonesian, which technically might make it difficult for her to obtain an IC.
“I have helped her apply for an identity card on Sept 13, 2018 but she was given a green identity card only,” she said today.
“As she is a holder of a green identity card,” Chang said Mei Mei could study in schools here provided she paid an annual fee of RM120.
“We are waiting for the approval of her identity card. We hope this Sept, there is a good outcome.”
Chang said she was helping another top SPM scorer in Sarikei apply for personal documents.
“We hope the government will look into their applications as they are bright students with a promising future,” she said.
All in all, Chang said she was handling more than 100 applications.
