KUALA LUMPUR – Retired Sunday Mail editor Sheila Rahman Natarajan was awarded the National Press Club-Macrokiosk Muhibbah Award today for her selflessness in caring for a stranger’s children.
Sheila stated that this award would help the stateless children community through the internet by raising awareness about their situation.
“I believe the stateless community will greatly benefit from you (Macrokiosk), indirectly through the digital solution. The digital era can break the barriers that prevent stateless children from accessing their own (identification documents) or essential facilities such as medical treatment, education and employment,” she said during her acceptance speech.
The story began in 2017 when Sheila and her neighbours rallied to support a family of five stateless children after noticing that the children were aimlessly roaming the streets and not attending school, despite the eldest being 12 years old at the time.
This raised concern and curiosity in Sheila, prompting her and her husband, Abdul Rahman Ishak, to persuade the father to give his consent and cooperation to help the children.
“As early retirees, we had the time and space to assist in the children’s welfare and upbringing with guidance. Instead of wandering the streets, the kids would be under our watchful eyes while their father worked,” she said.
The Rahmans’ home was known for practising the Malaysian Muhibbah concept of an “open house”, where they welcomed family and friends throughout the year, not just during festive celebrations.
Describing the children, Sheila referred to them as “cocoon children” because they had been confined to a single room where they cooked, ate, slept and washed their clothes in silence due to being ostracised by the father’s family.
“The children had to undergo counselling to overcome their fear because I couldn’t understand their feelings,” she said.
She also shared that she had to teach the boys basic self-care habits from scratch, such as proper toilet etiquette, as they had been neglected. However, she was grateful to have a supportive household to help raise the children.
The children consisted of four boys and one girl aged 18, 16, 15, 14 and 11.
In 2016, their biological mother, a foreigner, fled and abandoned them, leaving the children under the care of their biological father, a Malaysian.
Since 2018, the Rahmans, with the help of their neighbours, have made countless visits to the Welfare Department, the National Registration Department, and even their MP’s office in the process of obtaining citizenship.
Meanwhile, the father had to go on mandatory guardianship in 2019, which led to them managing to secure a late-registered “non-citizen” birth certificate in 2021.
In 2022, as the father was unwed to the biological mother, he had to adopt his children under the Welfare Department’s assessment, which is essential for a citizenship application.
Sheila’s children now attend the Dignity for Children Foundation in Sentul, which provides holistic care and education for underprivileged children.
“I never knew about this school before, but then it was recommended (to me). I have been looking around for the past two years by reading newspapers to find a school for my children,” she said.
Sheila said it is complicated for stateless children to enrol in a national school because they require proper documentation.
“Apparently, stateless children can go to a national school but need proper documentation,” she said.
Last year, the Rahmans submitted their citizenship application and are now waiting for approval by the National Registration Department.
At the moment, the eldest two teenagers live with the Rahmans in their private space, while the rest are with their father who is staying in the same neighbourhood. – October 31, 2023