Human Rights And Statelessness I N P E N I N S U L AR M AL AYS I A Out of this sample, only 2,225 had acquired citizenship. Statelessness is inherited and intergenerational for Malaysian Indians as 36% of the sample were children, 26% were adults, and 37% were senior citizens (Uqbah Soperi, 2017). The Home Minister revealed that 52,397 people who were permanent residents (MyPR holders) have no information about their country of origin, in a parliamentary reply to Sivarasa Rasiah (Subang) on 10 November 2010 (Parlimen Malaysia, 2010). The Home Minister stated that JPN recorded 227,430 MyPR holders as of 30 November 2016, in a parliamentary reply to Tan Kok Wai (Cheras) on 15 November 2016 (Parlimen Malaysia, 2016). Most recently, the Home Minister revealed that JPN records from 2010 until 30 June 2017 shows that 17,155 citizenship applications have been received from individuals of Indian descent, in a parliamentary reply to Charles Anthony Santiago (Klang) in 2017 (Parlimen Malaysia, 2017a). 2.2 Abandoned children born in Malaysia 2.2.1 Causation of statelessness An abandoned child or foundling is defined as a child who is in need of care and protection after being abandoned by his parent or guardian, and that after reasonable enquiries the parent or guardian cannot be found, and no other suitable person is willing and able to care for the child (Child Act, 2001). Statelessness persists amongst abandoned children born in Malaysia because they cannot obtain citizenship mainly due the inability to prove their link to their Malaysian birth parents. The citizenship application process requires abandoned children to trace their birth parents’ identities in order to show their link and claim towards Malaysian citizenship through either parents’ nationality status. However, abandoned children who lived in government shelter homes or were dropped off at baby hatches are unable to locate their birth parents and thus remain stateless into adulthood (Ho Kit Yen, 2018). One such person is “Edward”, who was abandoned as a baby, and who then faces issues into adulthood, such as the inability to open a bank account and register his own business due to a lack of Malaysian citizenship (Nurul Azwa Aris, 2018). Abandoned 32