KUALA LUMPUR – Putrajaya is seeking to strike out a constitutional challenge brought by six Malaysian mothers and a group representing foreign spouses.
They have been challenging Articles 14(1)(b) and 1(c) of the federal constitution, saying it contradicts Article 8, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender. Articles 14(1)(b) and 1(c) state that Malaysian women are not allowed to confer citizenship on their overseas-born children by operation of law.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court will decide on the application on May 6.
Based on documents filed on January 22, the government sought to strike out the case pursuant to Order 18, Rule 19 of the Rules of Court.
Among the reasons cited include the plaintiffs not having a cause of action, and the case is troublesome, frivolous and an abuse of the court process.
Additionally, in another affidavit filed the same day and sworn by the National Registration and Societies Division secretary Zamari Ramli, the government contends that the Association of Family Support & Welfare Selangor & KL (Family Frontiers) does not have locus standi to initiate the case.
In response, Family Frontiers counsel Datuk Gurdial Singh Nijar said the government should not strike out the case before allowing it to be heard.
“Don’t lock the (court’s) doors to people who have a genuine problem.”
Family Frontiers believes that it is important that the case be heard, given that, for more than 60 years, many families have suffered as a result of the long and arduous application processes under Article 15(2) of the federal constitution.
“Some mothers have been waiting for 16 years for their children to be granted citizenship to the point where some children have passed the eligible age to apply through Article 15(2).
“Some children are non-citizens while their siblings are citizens. Their plight has been further escalated by the Covid-19 pandemic – children cannot come to Malaysia to be with their mother, nor can their mother be with them,” Family Frontiers said in a statement today.
Also, Family Frontiers highlighted that the home minister has discretion to grant citizenship through applications filed under Article 15(2).
“Only 142 out of the 4,112 applications via Article 15(2) received by the Home Ministry between 2013 and 2018 were approved.” – The Vibes, April 27, 2021
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