The Family Frontiers group said the three children, aged eight, 10 and 17, received their documents at 6.20pm.

One of the mothers, Adlyn Adam Teoh, who spent a decade fighting for her son’s rights, said she was very thankful to the government for finally acknowledging her son as a Malaysian citizen, Bernama reported.

“Today is a very meaningful day for me. I am grateful because justice has been served.

“Currently, only three mothers have obtained citizenship for our children. What about the other mothers who are still waiting and facing similar problems?,” Bernama quoted her as saying.

Myra Eliza Mohd Danil and the other mother, who wished to be known only as Devi, also expressed their relief. “Alhamdulilah, I feel a bit less burdened. I have been fighting for this issue since my child was four, now my child is eight,” Myra said.

Family Frontiers president Suri Kempe said some mothers had been given the run-around by being provided lists of different requirements and varying instructions when submitting their documents. Some Malaysian missions abroad did not even receive instructions from Putrajaya, she said.

“There need to be clear guidelines that standardise the confirmation of citizenship for children, to ensure that Malaysian mothers do not have to jump through additional bureaucratic hoops that Malaysian fathers have never had to, in order to ensure their foreign-born children receive citizenship,” she said in a statement.

The citizenship certificates were issued following a High Court court decision in September 2021 that Malaysian mothers have equal rights as Malaysian fathers to automatically confer citizenship on their overseas-born children.

Putrajaya has since appealed against the judgement.