Norhanim Hasnor had spent her early years in an orphanage in Kuantan, Pahang, and faced much difficulty over the years, trying to get into school and later, trying to get gainful employment. All due to the lack of any identification papers.
“I had difficulties going to school, it was hard to get a job, I couldn’t get a driver’s licence or open a bank account.
“I was scared all the time. Even going out my front door frightened me because if the police had asked me for identification papers, how could I explain to them that I had none, even though this is the country I was born in?” she was quoted as saying by the news portal.
She was eventually advised to take her case to the MyDaftar programme, which is an initiative between BN component Gerakan and the Prime Minister’s Department.
With the help of MyDaftar, Norhanim will receive her MyPR card in about a month’s time.
“This is a belated birthday gift for me, as I celebrated my birthday on Tuesday.
“I can’t describe how happy I am now,” Norhanim told The Star, adding she was simply grateful to be able to carry some form of valid identification after three decades in the country of her birth.
“Imagine living your life not having an identity, not knowing who your parents are, not knowing your roots.
“Now I can say that I have an identity, that I belong here.”
She is now keen on getting a driver’s license and opening a bank account, simple tasks which we take for granted but which were impossible for Norhanim before this.
According to MyDaftar’s special implementation task force coordinator N. Siva Subramaniam, the government departments involved should be commended for their efforts in helping Norhanim secure her identification papers.
“We are happy that the home ministry had provided her with the identification papers needed to allow her to live her life.
“Yes, she doesn’t have a birth certificate, but she has been in Malaysia all her life. She was born here,” The Star quoted him as saying.
There are many others who share the same fate as Norhanim, Siva said, adding that MyDaftar would continue to help such Malaysians obtain the documents that they deserve.