This Woman Received Her Malaysian Citizenship After A Long Wait Of 20 Years
"No word can describe my happiness today."
By Sadho Ram — 01 Nov 2017, 04:08 PM
A 37-year-old housewife, S. Vanitha Mani's lifelong desire to become a Malaysian citizen was finally fulfilled when she received her citizenship approval letter from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at a special ceremony in KL on Tuesday, 31 October
The housewife, who has been living in Malaysia since marrying her Malaysian husband in 1998, had been waiting to become a Malaysian citizen for almost 20 years, patiently applying each time her application was rejected due to "documentation issues"
Vanitha Mani was born in Karaikudi, a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She and her Malaysian husband have seven children, aged six to 19, reported NST Online.
She was all smiles when she received her citizenship approval letter from PM Najib. Vanitha Mani was accompanied by her husband, P. Arumugam, aged 45.
"No word can describe my happiness today"
Vanitha Mani, who received her permanent resident status in 2010, said that "Malaysians are very fortunate because, from birth, various forms of assistance are provided for by the government, especially in areas of health and education, and various loans were made available to start businesses."
"Before, when I went for treatment at the 1Malaysia Clinic, I had to pay RM15. But now as a citizen I only have to pay RM1," she added.
"Thank you for finally accepting me as a Malaysian citizen. Moreover, I am very happy to receive my citizenship approval letter personally from a leader who does not sideline other races in the country," she was quoted as saying by Bernama.
At the ceremony, PM Najib personally handed out Malaysian citizenship documents to 177 Malaysian Indians, who are among the 1,054 stateless Indians whose applications were approved this year
