After receiving the letter, she returned to her seat and gave her adoptive mother, Chee Hoi Lan, 83, a tight embrace before both mother and daughter left the ceremony.

According to Hamzah, while on stage to receive the letter, Rohana had told him how much the citizenship certificate meant to her.

“On stage, she (Rohana) cried as she said she had been waiting for a long time for her citizenship.

“She expressed her thanks to the government. I informed her that we grant citizenship only to eligible individuals,” Hamzah said.

Rohana was one of 34 recipients, aged between five and 24, who received Malaysian citizenship at a ceremony held at the home ministry.

Rohana’s citizenship issue had attracted the attention of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who had contacted her to assist with her documentation.

Rohana was reportedly abandoned when she was two months old by her biological mother, an Indonesian citizen, and was cared for by Chee, who was a teacher at a kindergarten where she worked as a cleaner.