'It's not their fault': Elderly couple worry about stateless children in their care

For years, Noraini Hasan and her husband Zubir Ramli have cared for two children abandoned by their birth parents, bringing them up as their own and working hard to give them everything within their power.

But their greatest fears are tied to the one thing they cannot provide for these children: citizenship.

This is not for a lack of trying. Noraini and Zubir have met with officials from the Social Welfare Department and the National Registration Department – so far, in vain.

Now, they worry from day to day about what will happen to the children once they are no longer able to care for them.

The boy, Muhammad Ziqri, is the son of Noraini's former Indonesian worker.

"I knew his mother for a long time," Noraini, 56, told MalaysiaNow.

"She asked me to take care of her child for a short while so that she could go back to Indonesia to settle her passport."

But the woman never came back, and Noraini's many attempts to contact her were ignored.

Ziqri turned eight this year and, in another world, would be attending school in Standard Two now. But because he does not have a MyKad, he has never even set foot in a school compound.

The girl, Fatiha Qaisara, is nine years old. She is more fortunate than Ziqri in that she is allowed to attend religious classes in the afternoon.

But even this was a stroke of luck, as there happened to be a vacancy in the school.

Fatiha was abandoned by her mother, Zubir's niece, before she even left the hospital.

Her mother, who had no documentation either, went back to her hometown where she vanished without a trace.

Noraini, who helps in her son's eatery, has no peace of mind worrying about what the future might hold for the two.

"Every morning after they bathe, they follow me to the shop," she said.

"Sometimes they go to the nearby playground. They spend their mornings there but they should actually be in school.

"It's really saddening, thinking about what will happen to them."

Noraini and Zubir, 54, do what they can to give the children an education on their own, no matter how informal.

"They can spell, but they can't read very well," Noraini said.

"Their writing and mathematics are also not as good as those of the other children. They ask me so many times when they can go to school. But I have no answer for them."

Once, an official from the education ministry promised to help them when the next school session began.

"But when we came again, it was another official who wouldn't let the children attend school because they don't have identity cards."

Noraini said the Social Welfare Department asked them to turn to the media.

"They said, make an announcement in the newspapers. If no one comes to claim the children within a month, they will help them go to school."

If their application succeeds, the couple plan to send Ziqri to school at Zubir's hometown in Taiping, Perak.

"I'll go back with him to take care of the family farm as it's hard for me to find work here, given my age.

"Fatiha will stay here, and our other children will take care of her," Zubir said.

This will mean splitting up the family, but both Noraini and Zubir believe it will be worth it.

"We have no heart to abandon these children when it's not their fault," Zubir said.