Four Siblings With No Birth Certificate

KUALA TERENGGANU – “I want to go to school and wear the school uniform like my friends,” says nine-year-old Nor Hidayah Mohd Zaki, from Kampung Nibong here.

Since the past few years, she has been watching her friends go to school and wishing that she could be doing the same.

Unlike her friends, she and her three younger siblings – Nordiana, 8, Mohd Alif, 7, and Mohd Syawal, 5 – are like refugees in their own country. The reason is that they do not have a birth certificate.

Their mother, Rohani Ngah, 33, said her four children did not have the birth certificate because of her own negligence.

“Their father (Mohd Zaki Othman, 48) and I were married in 2000 without our family blessings. As a result we had problems getting our marriage certificate. Hence, why the children’s birth were not registered,” she said when met by reporters at her house here, according to Bernama.

However, she said their fifth child, Nurul Fatihah, who is now three-years-old, did have a birth certificate after she and her husband went to register their marriage again in 2005.

Now, the family is hoping for assistance from the Umno Youth Complaints Bureau to resolve the problem.

Meanwhile, Kuala Terengganu Umno Youth chief, Badrol Hisham Zaki said the movement would assist the family in getting the birth certificates for the four children.