KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — The National Registration Department (NRD) had complicated the process of conferring citizenship to four stateless siblings born to a Malaysian man, legal rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) said today.

In a statement, its director Zaid Malek denied that the siblings were uncooperative with the NRD and asserted that the NRD made baseless objections in addition to harassing them.

"From the outset yesterday, NRD attempted to deny them the assistance of their lawyer to fill up the forms and in discussing with officers.”

"It was only after repeated pleas that NRD finally allowed their lawyer to assist the siblings. What was the need for this?” he asked.

Zaid alleged that the multiple officers from NRD, including its director-general Zamri Misman, had continuously harassed the four siblings by accusing them of making the process difficult by involving lawyers and blamed them for not getting "proper advice” from NRD instead.

"One can only imagine how stateless persons are treated by them when lawyers are not present,” he said, accusing the NRD of trying to shift the blame to the found siblings instead.

Additionally, Zaid urged the government to resolve the matter quickly and demanded an explanation from Putrajaya and the Home Ministry over the treatment the four had at the NRD.

Yesterday, NRD said in a statement that the four stateless siblings submitted their applications without the required supporting documents and several crucial details in the copy of the documents that Aziq submitted were illegible.

In response, LFL denied NRD's explanation, saying a certified true copy of the marriage certificate of their parents was already submitted.

He said the application need not be made by a citizen and the stateless siblings should be able to make a citizenship application themselves pursuant to the lack of such legal requirements citing Article 14(1)(b), and paragraph 1(a) of Part II of the Second Schedule in the Federal Constitution.

Article 14(1)(b) states that everyone born after Malaysia Day with the qualifications stated in Part II of the Second Schedule is considered a citizen.

Under the abovementioned Part II, the qualifications in paragraph 1(a) require them to have at least one parent as a citizen, or be born in Malaysia with no other citizenship.

"As legitimate children, they inherit the citizenship of their father under the Constitution,” he said.

Earlier this week, LFL said that the children have been denied proper education, employment and healthcare as well as unable to open bank accounts, get driving licenses or appropriate jobs with fair wages.

The group said the two elder siblings — Aziq Fadyan, 24 and Azreen Batrisyia, 22 — could not even obtain SPM certificates, while their younger sisters aged 12 and eight cannot currently attend school.

Their father, Fadil Saharudin, had married their Indonesian mother in 1998.