Judge Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali said Wong Kueng Hui had taken reasonable steps to determine his mother’s nationality by checking with the Indonesian embassy, a search which turned out to be negative.

“Since there is no evidence to the contrary, the High Court did not err in fact and law that Wong is a stateless person,” said Ruzima, who dismissed the government’s appeal.

Judge M Gunalan was with Ruzima while Azizah Nawawi dissented.

Ruzima said there was no doubt that Wong was born at the Keningau hospital in Sabah on Jan 2, 1995 following cohabitation by his father and mother.

“Their marriage was not registered. As an illegitimate child, his citizenship should follow that of the mother,” he said.

Ruzima said in the High Court it was revealed that Wong had taken various steps to determine the citizenship of the mother.

“As her citizenship is unknown, that makes him a stateless person,” he said.

The High Court had on Oct 21, 2019 declared that Wong is a Malaysian citizen based on the Second Schedule, Part II under Section 1(e) of the Federal Constitution — a provision under which those born within Malaysia and are not born a citizen of any other country are entitled to Malaysian citizenship by operation of law.

Judge Nordin Hassan had also ordered the National Registration Department director-general to issue a citizenship certificate or identification card to Wong.

Azizah, in her dissenting judgement, said Wong’s mother passed away when he was 17 years old.

“This is not a case where he did not have knowledge of the mother’s original state. In fact, Wong had made queries with the Indonesia embassy, but there was no positive response,” she said.

She said Wong knew his mother was from Indonesia and, as such, could not claim to be a stateless person.

Lawyers Haijan Omar and Sharifah Alawiah Syed Alwee appeared for Wong while senior federal counsel Mohd Izhanudin Alias represented the government.