<p>Mageswari Koothan, 52, said she had never registered as a voter nor voted in India. She cannot get a job here, nor can she return to India to be with her family. <br /><br />She has appealed for intervention by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to end eight years of misery.<br /><br />"While the government has revoked my citizenship, India's home ministry stamped my passport for overstaying and granted me a one-way exit to leave the country in 2004," The Star newspaper quoted her as saying Monday.<br /><br />In 2002, Mageswari received a notice from the Malaysian National Registration Department telling her that she was no longer a Malaysian after it found she was registered as a voter in India.<br /><br />She stayed in India after marrying an Indian national at 16, but has been returning to Malaysia regularly.<br /><br />Her troubles began when she wanted to renew her passport in 1989 at the Malaysian High Commission in India.<br /><br />She was informed her documents had to be sent to Malaysia for renewal and 13 years later she received the citizenship revocation notice.<br /><br />"This is indeed perplexing. As a Malaysian citizen, how could I have registered as a voter in India?" asked Mageswari.<br /><br />After numerous appeals, she finally received a letter from the home ministry in 2004, telling her that she could come back to Malaysia to attend an inquiry on her citizenship.<br /><br />When she arrived here, her passport was confiscated at the airport, and a few months after the inquiry she received her new MyKad, the Malaysian identity card.<br /><br />"The immigration department informed me that I would be able to get back my passport in 2008, after being suspended for three years since I overstayed in India," said Mageswari.<br /><br />She assumed everything was okay until she received another letter from the department in 2008 stating that her citizenship had been revoked again.<br /><br />"Now I am stateless, and I have not seen my children and husband since I came here in 2002."<br /><br />She is one among the 1.7 million ethnic Indians who have made Malaysia their home.<br /></p>
<p>Mageswari Koothan, 52, said she had never registered as a voter nor voted in India. She cannot get a job here, nor can she return to India to be with her family. <br /><br />She has appealed for intervention by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to end eight years of misery.<br /><br />"While the government has revoked my citizenship, India's home ministry stamped my passport for overstaying and granted me a one-way exit to leave the country in 2004," The Star newspaper quoted her as saying Monday.<br /><br />In 2002, Mageswari received a notice from the Malaysian National Registration Department telling her that she was no longer a Malaysian after it found she was registered as a voter in India.<br /><br />She stayed in India after marrying an Indian national at 16, but has been returning to Malaysia regularly.<br /><br />Her troubles began when she wanted to renew her passport in 1989 at the Malaysian High Commission in India.<br /><br />She was informed her documents had to be sent to Malaysia for renewal and 13 years later she received the citizenship revocation notice.<br /><br />"This is indeed perplexing. As a Malaysian citizen, how could I have registered as a voter in India?" asked Mageswari.<br /><br />After numerous appeals, she finally received a letter from the home ministry in 2004, telling her that she could come back to Malaysia to attend an inquiry on her citizenship.<br /><br />When she arrived here, her passport was confiscated at the airport, and a few months after the inquiry she received her new MyKad, the Malaysian identity card.<br /><br />"The immigration department informed me that I would be able to get back my passport in 2008, after being suspended for three years since I overstayed in India," said Mageswari.<br /><br />She assumed everything was okay until she received another letter from the department in 2008 stating that her citizenship had been revoked again.<br /><br />"Now I am stateless, and I have not seen my children and husband since I came here in 2002."<br /><br />She is one among the 1.7 million ethnic Indians who have made Malaysia their home.<br /></p>