Pakistani activist, Malala Yousafzai once said “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for many children including this 9-year-old Sarawakian girl who was denied from pursuing her education due to her citizenship status.
Jeanny Ating completed Standard 1 in 2020 and proceeded to Standard 2 for only 2 months last year.
That was when her mother, Ruran Lukas received a heart-breaking text message stating that Jeanny would no longer be allowed to attend school.
Despite being born & bred in Sarawak, Ruran’s official nationality is Indonesian. Ruran, 40, and her husband Ating Agong, 55, have 6 children.
Turns out the couple managed to only register their marriage in 2016 due to the challenges faced with Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN). Due to the delay in registering their union, their first 5 children who were born between 1998 and 2013 were denied access to school, including Jeanny.
This means that the first 5 children of theirs are not considered Malaysians and only their youngest who was born in 2019 is a Malaysian citizen.
“It was because of Ruran’s citizenship status. Although she was born and bred here but her status in her birth certificate listed her as a non-citizen because both her parents are Indonesians. So, we had problems in registering our marriage”, Ating explained, as reported by The Borneo Post.
“When I received the message, my heart sank. I cannot imagine her future without an education. We had a hard time explaining to her that she could no longer go to school due to her citizenship status”, Ruran told The Borneo Post.
Jeanny’s case isn’t the only case we’ve heard over the years. We hope that the educational system would embark on a new path that focuses more on the children rather than their status or citizenship.
We also hope Jeanny gets the education she deserves, before it’s too late.
