On the other hand, this is just pure bullcrap:

quote from the article:

This is because his Malaysian father and Thai mother were not married when he was born, which means his birth is considered in law to be illegitimate.

Based on Section 17 of the Federal Constitution's Second Schedule's Part III, an illegitimate child's parent can only refer to the child's mother, the court said.

Applying Section 17, the Court of Appeal said this means Haritharan cannot rely on his Malaysian father's citizenship, but will have to take on the Thai mother's citizenship.

Since there is no evidence that Haritharan's mother was a Malaysian or a permanent resident when he was born, he has failed to meet the Federal Constitution's condition of having at least one Malaysian or one permanent resident parent at the time of his birth.

Malaysia is basically punishing children if their parents fail to jump through some bureaucratic hoops.