Finally Malaysians! Kow Brothers Spam Friends And Family With “Anak Malaysia” Message

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Remember the story of two brothers, Kow Kai Long and Kow Kai Voon, who were considered stateless despite having Malaysian birth certificates?

READ MORE: Brothers’ Dilemma: They Have Malaysian Birth Certs But Are Not Malaysians

Good news, they’re both officially confirmed as Malaysians! We did it, guys!

They received the letter to collect the results of their Malaysian citizenship applications on 28 July. After collecting the letters on 31 July, they were overjoyed to discover their applications were approved.

However, there’s still some work to be done. They were told to return a month after to collect the Certificate of Citizenship, which is expected to be ready on Merdeka Day (31 August). The certificates are needed for them to apply for their national identification cards.

Once they applied for their ICs, they would need to wait another 1 to 2 months to collect them.

Although they don’t have their ICs in hand yet, they’re still happy to be finally considered Malaysians after all these years.

TRP caught up with the Kow brothers just in time for the Merdeka month to celebrate being Malaysians.

Kai Long shared that the first thing they did upon being “officially” Malaysians was spamming their contact list with the good news and proclaiming they were finally “Anak Malaysia.”

After years of legal trouble, it was only apt for the brothers to throw a party with their loved ones to celebrate the end of this chapter.

Kai Long said he finally felt free “like a bird that can fly up in the sky” now that he and his brother were recognised as Malaysians on paper.

All these years of fighting to be a Malaysian have finally come to an end. I’m finally no longer a stateless person!

Kow Kai Long

When asked what the best thing about being Malaysian was, both said it was good not to live in fear and uncertainty anymore. They said they could now focus on achieving their dreams and move on to the next chapter in life.

They were also grateful for the support from the people around them because there were moments when they weren’t sure if they would ever be recognised as Malaysians despite being born and growing up here.

Kai Long said the dread and questions were always in their minds.

Yes, it’s always a thought: Will we be acknowledged one day? Will we ever be Malaysians? How will we live our lives being stateless?

Kow Kai Long

He added that they got through the long, bad days by being optimistic and leaning on support from family and friends. He credited his loved ones for believing everything would work out and kept them striving forward.

As it turned out, the support from loved ones shouldn’t be taken for granted. As chance would have it, Kai Long said they met a group of friends from a leadership programme course.

This group, who Kai Long has since considered as family, helped connect the brothers to a lawyer and successfully raised around RM46k for the brothers to cover the legal fees.

One of the lessons they learned along the journey was to not give up the fight although things looked bleak.

Never give up because 100% is possible, 100% of the time.

Kow Kai Long

Now that they are officially Anak Malaysia, Kai Long eagerly looks forward to their future. He dreams of travelling the world, especially with his loved ones, and hopes to make that a reality.

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