PENANG, Feb 14 (Sin Chew Daily) — A 23-year-old girl is unable to continue her studies after completing STPM because she does not have an identity card.

Chen Jia Ni, raised by Buddhist nuns at a Buddhist temple in Penang, completed her STPM in 2018.

Since then, Chen has remained in the temple for about three years.

In a press conference, Paya Terubong state assemblyman Yeoh Soon Hin urged the home ministry to resolve Chen’s citizenship issue, or at least issue a red identity card for her so that she can continue to study in a college.

Yeoh said Chen was abandoned by her parents at a temple in Kluang. She was later brought to a temple in Penang by a Buddhist nun.

“The nun applied for her birth certificate then. But when the nun left the temple later, her birth certificate was lost,” said Yeoh.

Another Buddhist nun adopted Chen and through a court order, managed to get a birth certificate for her in 2013.

Chen studied at SJK(C) Kong Min Pusat, went to SMJK Convent Datuk Keramat for secondary school and then SMJK Chung Ling for form six.

She was unable to continue her studies after form six nor work as she was without an identity card.

The nun once wrote to the home ministry through a lawyer to apply for citizenship for Chen.

The reply from home ministry was “it would consider the application” and it has been pending since then.

Yeoh said Chen was born and raised in Malaysia and should have an identity card.

He said he would follow up with the home ministry on Chen’s status as a stateless person.

Chen, who was present at the press conference, wept as she was not used to facing camera.

She wakes up at 6am to clean the temple every day.

Impressed by her hardworking attitude, a neighbor, who is the headmaster of a Chinese primary school, recommended Chen to be a teacher at a daycare center since January.