What legal distinction made a 17-year-old eligible for citizenship but not a 29-year-old?

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Legal Distinction Based on Age at Abandonment Determines Citizenship Eligibility

A 17-year-old stateless girl was deemed eligible for Malaysian citizenship due to being abandoned as a newborn, a circumstance covered by Section 19B of the Federal Constitution. Conversely, a 29-year-old stateless woman was deemed ineligible because she was abandoned as a child of approximately one year old, thus not meeting the "newborn" criteria stipulated by the law.
Eligibility Under Section 19B for Newborns

The Court of Appeal's majority decision favoured the 17-year-old girl, identified as M, by applying Section 19B of the Federal Constitution. This provision presumes that a "new born child found exposed" in Malaysia was born to a permanent resident mother. Consequently, M fulfilled the requirements for citizenship under Article 14(1)(b) and Section 1(a) of the Federal Constitution, which grant citizenship to individuals born in Malaysia to at least one permanent resident parent. The court found that the government failed to rebut this presumption or establish the biological mother's identity and nationality.
Ineligibility Due to Age at Abandonment

In contrast, the 29-year-old woman, G, was not granted citizenship by operation of law. The Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that G did not meet the constitutional prerequisites as she was not a "new born" child when abandoned at a bus stop in Pahang. Medical examination and police reports indicated she was around one to one-and-a-half years old at the time of abandonment in 1997. This age difference meant that Section 19B, which specifically addresses newborns, did not apply to her case.
Circumstances of Abandonment and Adoption

For M, the court determined that despite prior contact between her adoptive parents and biological mother, the facts supported a finding of abandonment. The biological mother, known only as B, left the child at a clinic a few days after birth and became uncontactable. The court clarified that prior discussions about adoption do not negate abandonment if the mother relinquishes parental responsibility and leaves the newborn without providing traceable particulars. M's adoptive parents, L and T, later registered her birth falsely, leading to L's conviction, but this act occurred after the abandonment and did not disprove B’s relinquishment of the child.
Legal Interpretation of "New Born" and Citizenship Criteria

The Court of Appeal emphasised that G's case, while evoking sympathy due to her circumstances of being raised by Malaysian adoptive parents, could not displace the constitutional requirements for citizenship. The unanimous decision highlighted that the legal definition of a "new born" was critical, and G's estimated age at abandonment fell outside this definition. Furthermore, the court addressed alternative arguments, stating that an adoption order does not retrospectively confer citizenship, and G could not satisfy Section 1(e) without proving she was not born a citizen of any country, a fact that could not be determined due to unknown parentage.

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What legal distinction made a 17-year-old eligible for citizenship but not a 29-year-old?

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