Eight-year-old girl is finally a Malaysian

The Star

Eight-year-old Mia Teo Herrizon has finally obtained Malaysian citizenship after years of unsuccessful attempts by her mother, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.  The MCA president said he received the news after Mia's mother Esther  Teo told him she finally received her daughter's citizenship certificate from Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.  Read more at https://shorturl.at/kopsR  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00 Eight-year-old Mia Thio Harrison has finally obtained Malaysian citizenship after years

00:07 of unsuccessful attempts by her mother.

00:10 MCA President Datuk Seri Dr. Wee Kha Siong said he received the news after Mia's mother

00:16 Esther Thio told him she finally received her daughter's citizenship certificate from

00:20 Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

00:25 In a Facebook post on Monday, Dr. Wee said upon receiving the notice from the Home Affairs

00:30 Ministry that her daughter's application had been approved, she couldn't contain her joy

00:35 and shared the good news with him.

00:37 Dr. Wee added he was also happy for her.

00:40 He said he first met Esther in Batu Pahat in July, where she shared the story of giving

00:45 birth to her daughter in Germany and had experienced years of unsuccessful attempts to secure citizenship

00:51 for Mia.

00:52 Dr. Wee had promised to assist her and wrote a letter to the Home Affairs Ministry to support

00:57 her appeal multiple times and even raised her case during a parliamentary debate session.

01:04 He also said while Esther had fulfilled her hope for her daughter's citizenship, many

01:08 Malaysian mothers giving birth abroad are still awaiting news from the Home Ministry.

01:14 Dr. Wee also said that Saifuddin has agreed to amend laws to ensure gender equality for

01:20 Malaysian women, permanently resolving the challenges faced by them whenever they give

01:25 birth abroad and then attempt to apply for citizenship for their children.

01:30 Mia was born in Germany when her mother, Esther, was working as an engineer with Siemens and

01:35 her father, Harry Zontio, was working as an IT expert with SAP in Germany.

01:41 The couple came back to Malaysia in 2019 before their second daughter was born.

01:45 The couple was also the first Malaysian woman to have a child.

01:46 The couple was also the first Malaysian woman to have a child.

01:47 The couple was also the first Malaysian woman to have a child.

01:48 The couple was also the first Malaysian woman to have a child.

01:49 The couple was also the first Malaysian woman to have a child.

01:50 The couple was also the first Malaysian woman to have a child.

01:51 The couple was also the first Malaysian woman to have a child.

01:52 The couple was also the first Malaysian woman to have a child.

01:53 The couple was also the first Malaysian woman to have a child.

01:54 The couple was also the first Malaysian woman to have a child.

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