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Wednesday 20 June 2007

Malaysian or not?

What happens when a Malaysian man marries an Indonesian woman in Narathiwat, Thailand? Well, if this was some kind of a dish, I’d call it MALINDO TOMYAM! And with too many ingredients, including lots of hot and spicy stuff, this dish can cause major stomach upset...

This story is about Fuzi. I’ve already highlighted Fuzi’s financial problems in my earlier postings. Her never-ending welfare woes continue… her measly RM115 monthly financial aid from the welfare department is still inconsistent. Thank goodness my earlier posting in this blog has resulted in one of my blog readers contributing a fixed amount monthly into Fuzi’s bank account. At least she has something to rely on to survive, especially when the welfare help comes in late.

This time I am not going to touch on the welfare problems again. It will only “make my blood go upstairs”!

Fuzi is an Indonesian woman who married an elderly Malaysian man about 13 years ago. It was this man’s second marriage after his wife died a few years back. I am not sure why he decided to get married in Thailand though. Maybe his children didn’t agree to his second marriage… or maybe there were other problems, I don’t really know.

He should have registered his marriage in Malaysia, but he did not. Whenever Fuzi asked, he just said everything had been done. Fuzi herself didn’t really know what the procedures were so she never asked further. There were no problems when Fuzi gave birth to her first 4 children. In their birth certs, their citizenship was clearly indicated as Malaysian, so Fuzi didn’t foresee any problems.

When Fuzi’s husband died a few years ago, Fuzi immediately became a single non-working mother. She has not got her PR status yet. Since her children are Malaysians, she was determined to stay on in Malaysia even if she needed to renew her visa on a yearly basis. She had her late husband’s house to stay in, even though the door may not be too secure (it didn’t have proper lock), at least Fuzi and her children still have a place they can call home.

To cut a long story short, one night somebody broke into their home and Fuzi got raped. As a result, Fuzi got pregnant, and during the tests done, she was also found to be HIV positive.

When her 5th child, Iwan, was born, without a father, in the birth cert, under the father’s info it was written as “Maklumat bapa: Tidak diketahui”. And with the mother’s citizenship being Indonesian, Iwan was considered as a non-citizen. His siblings are all Malaysians, while he is not. That’s not so bad I guess. What I can’t imagine is how he will be going to school with a birth cert which says father’s info not known – especially if the birth cert falls into the hands of a judgmental person. Oh poor Iwan!

Well, if Fuzi thought Iwan was her only worry, she was wrong. Her eldest daughter Wina turned 12 recently and off they went to JPN to get her MyKad done. Since the girl's father is no longer around and the mother is an Indonesian, JPN needed further supporting documents other than Wina’s birth cert to confirm that she’s really a Malaysian citizen. Fuzi produced her Narathiwat-issued marriage cert which is not recognized here unless and until the marriage is properly registered in Malaysia. Apparently it was not. Fuzi’s late husband never registered the marriage. So here goes…

Now Fuzi needs to go through all sorts of hassle. First, she needs to “legalize” the marriage with her late husband. That's not an easy task when the husband is no longer around. Amongst others, she needs to find the 2 witnesses to her marriage in Narathiwat. She knows where one of them stays but doesn’t know where the other one is. Now she needs to get the full name of the other witness (full names of witnesses not even written on the marriage cert, just their signatures, would you believe it?), and then get JPN’s help to find the latest address.

Other than that she also needs to prove that the marriage cert she has is not fake. The onus of proving it is on her. It was suggested that she goes to the Thailand embassy to get that done. After that she needs to go to Majlis Agama Islam, together with the names and addresses of the 2 witnesses. Once that is done and the Majlis Agama Islam is satisfied, only then will they issue a letter which Fuzi will have to bring to JPN.

I’m not sure how long the process will take. Along the way, Fuzi will need to incur lots of expenses, not only for her trips here and there, but she will also need to pay for attestations, penalties and whatever other fines for not having her marriage registered earlier (which should have been done by her late husband long ago!).

If Fuzi fails to do all that, Wina and the other children will not be getting their MyKad despite their birth cert indicating they are Malaysians. And if they don’t get their MyKad, they may face other problems in the future.

And all the while Fuzi thought Iwan was her only problem…

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Berpintal-pintal masalah Fuzi ni.
Does she at least have the police report when robbers broke into her house? At least, that may help Iwan in the future. I take it that her husband family members aren't supportive?

Anonymous said...

Wow - this is going to be difficult. It is not like she can hop in a car and drive here there and everywhere. And the children will be doing what while she is trying to resolve this?

Everything is riding on that marriage cert. If she needs additional finances to cover the transportation, attestations, fines, etc. that should not be a problem - just let us know in advance and I am sure arrangements can be made.

As for Iwan, I would suggest she start thinking about solving his problem immediately after this marriage cert is straightened out.

Our lives are too easy compared to the lives of others....

I am sure you will do everything you can to help. Perhaps some of your readers have other advice or know someone?

Pi Bani said...

Hazia,
The person who broke into the house was not a robber, but a rapist. Nothing was taken except Fuzi's dignity. Police report? I'm not sure if she has one, but even if she does, I doubt it will help Iwan in any way. And her husband's family had never been supportive of her from the start.

Pi Bani said...

Anonymous,
This will be tough even for an educated person to resolve. In Fuzi's case, it's worse as she doesn't really know how to go about doing things. She did say she asked an "orang dalam" to advise her what to do, but she still needs to do a lot of running around to get all the necessary supporting documents.

And yes, if any readers out there can offer their advice on how to expedite things, please share your advice with us.

Anonymous said...

Kenapa tak guna grant tanah/runah arwah sebagai bukti yg anak-anak adalah rakyat Malaysia ?

Dalam surat nukah tu ada NRIC arwah tak ?

Unless nama dalam grant tu berlainan dari surat beranak & NRIC tercatat adalah berlainan dari surat mati !

Kena buat surat sumpah dulu kut.

Just my thoughts and hope this could help them.

Regards.

Nani, KL

Pi Bani said...

Nani,
The problem now is they don't recognize the Narathiwat surat nikah. Once they recognize the surat nikah, there should be no further problems for the children (except for Iwan lah, because Fuzi's late husband is definitely not Iwan's father).

But thanks anyway. Will try to ask if the geran tanah/rumah can be used if the surat nikah is still not recognized.

Unknown said...

Kesian Fuzi...one after another nampaknya....dari masalah yang dia ingat satu rupanya akan jadi bertali arus...

camne nak buat Pi?

Pi Bani said...

RG,
Camne nak buat? Ikut ajelah procedures yang depa suruh dia ikut tu. You think her case is complicated enough? Aiyo... yesterday I found out of an even more complicate case... one PLWHA who, on record, doesn't even exist! This one I donno how to help la. At least in Fuzi's case she has some documents to show.

Mai Shahira said...

salam...
been following ur posts in the blog for a few times now. interesting sgt.. although for this entry, pity fuzi la kan... and her son also =(.... hmm.. Even to show that we care means a lot to them kan :)

-mai shahira-
(i'm from ipoh as well =D )

Pi Bani said...

Mai Shahira! Ipoh mali?? Any relation to Mai Zubaidah? :)

Anyway yes, sad isn't it? Sometimes we can complain about teenie weenie things... yet people like Fuzi has to face all sorts of difficult situations. And as I mentioned to Raden Galoh, there are cases more complicated than Fuzi's.

That will come in another posting...

Leo said...

Hi Kak Pi, I know this is out of topic, but what happened to the makcik you wrote about in your past posts? Did you manage to contact her?

J.T. said...

This is a complicated case. First Fuzi needs to sort out the marriage cert. With that, she can sort out her children's case. But to get from point A to point B seems daunting.
One question, if the certificate only had witnesses' signatures and no full names, who's to know who signed the document as witnesses? She has the first one, second one could ... (hint, hint)

Pi Bani said...

Hi Leo!
Wah, makcik got peminat, eh? :)

No, haven't been able to contact her yet. Trying other means now. Will give updates from time to time if I get any news on her.

Pi Bani said...

JT,
The 2 witnesses were friends of Fuzi's late husband. Fuzi is hoping the first witness may be able to give the full name of the second witness. From what I understand, once they get the name, JPN will be able to help in getting the latest address, and after that they will write to this person to confirm that he had indeed witnessed the marriage in Narathiwat. I also peninglah. See first lah how things go.

Monster Mom said...

Just from reading this entry makes me dizzy.... imagine the person herself...
Pi, nice to have u around... keep on posting....
Love this blog!

Pi Bani said...

Monster mom,
You pening? You pening I also peninglah. So dah pening how to post new stories? ;)

Don't worry, new posting coming soon... to make you even more pening.