Hashimah, who was abandoned by her biological parents, won her bid to become a citizen after the Kuala Lumpur High Court declared her a Malaysian.

Hashimah was born in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 9, 1983, but was abandoned while still a toddler. The police found her during a raid and she went on to live in several orphanages throughout her life.

Her lawyers, Latheefa Koya and Shahid Adli Kamarudin, said she made many attempts to find her parents but failed.

“The identity of Hashimah’s biological parents remains unknown,” Latheefa said.

Hashimah filed an application for citizenship by operation of law on Feb 25, 2020, but her request was turned down by the National Registration Department (JPN) in July that year.

Aggrieved by the decision, she filed a judicial review to challenge JPN’s refusal to grant citizenship to her.

“High Court judge Amarjeet Singh declared Hashimah a Malaysian by operation of law,” Latheefa said.

“In its ruling, the court said it is bound by a Federal Court decision dated Nov 19, 2021 over an adopted teenager’s citizenship bid. That case sets the precedent on how the home ministry, JPN and the registrar-general of births and deaths ought to deal with future cases in relation to abandoned newborn children.”

No order was made to cost.

In the Nov 19 case, a 17-year-old teenager was abandoned as a baby by his biological mother at Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) in January 2004. He was subsequently adopted by a couple.

However, when the teenager turned 12 in 2016, JPN refused to issue an identity card for him, stating that there were “some inaccuracies” in the boy’s name and that of his adopted sister.

JPN then issued two birth certificates for the boy, with the third and final certificate stating that he was a stateless person.

The Federal Court had held that the government and home ministry had no right to deny any child’s bid to obtain citizenship once they fulfilled all legal requirements.