Lau Lai Seng & Anor v Ketua Pengarah Pendaftaran Negara & Ors

Appellant(s):

• Lau Lai Leng
• LAU WEI SIANG (Seorang kanak-kanak yang menuntut melalui Bapa Kandung yang sah di sisi undang-undang dan wakil litigasi, Lau Lai Leng)

Respondent(s):

• Ketua Pengarah Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara
• Menteri Dalam Negeri Malaysia
• Kerajaan Malaysia

• YAA Datuk Hajah Azizah binti Haji Nawawi
• YA Dato' Mohd Nazlan Bin Mohd Ghazali
• YA Datuk Azhahari Kamal bin Ramli

• The second plaintiff, an illegitimate child, was born in Malaysia to the first plaintiff (a Malaysian citizen) and a Cambodian mother who were not legally married.
• The child was registered as a non-citizen, and a subsequent application for citizenship under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution was rejected.
• Following DNA confirmation of the first plaintiff as the biological father, the plaintiffs initiated an originating summons seeking a declaration of the child's Malaysian citizenship by operation of law.

• Whether the illegitimate child was a citizen by operation of law under Article 14(1)(b) read with Part II, Section 1(e) and Section 2(3) of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
• Whether the illegitimate child was a citizen by operation of law under Article 14(1)(b) read with Part II, Section 1(a) of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
• Whether proof of *jus sanguinis* (citizenship by lineage) is required for these provisions, and how Section 17 of Part III of the Second Schedule (illegitimate child follows mother's citizenship) applies.

• The Court dismissed the appeal, affirming the High Court's decision that both *jus soli* (place of birth) and *jus sanguinis* (lineage) must be proven for citizenship under Section 1(e) and Section 2(3).
• The Court, bound by the Federal Court's decision in *CTEB & Anor*, held that for an illegitimate child, *jus sanguinis* is traced through the biological mother as per Section 17 of Part III of the Second Schedule.
• As the biological mother was a non-citizen and Cambodian law allowed the child to acquire Cambodian citizenship, the child failed to prove he was "not born a citizen of any country" under Section 1(e) or that his "parents" (meaning mother) were Malaysian citizens under Section 1(a).