KUALA LUMPUR – The government is expected to table in September the constitutional amendment to allow children born overseas to Malaysian women to be given citizenship, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
Responding during question time in Dewan Rakyat today, he said the government needs time to examine several clauses and articles under the federal constitution to “harmonise” the necessary amendments before presenting them to the Conference of Rulers and subsequently tabling the bill in Parliament.
Among the issues that the government is looking at is whether citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers should be granted automatically, retroactively, or on a case-to-case basis, he said.
This is to prevent a child from being granted dual citizenship, a right that Malaysia does not recognise.
“Citizenship is a serious matter. Once a person is granted citizenship, the state is responsible for said person, and the said person has responsibilities to the state as well.
“So, (it is inappropriate) if a child is born overseas and is granted citizenship based on the nationality of the father, and yet the mother applies to the courts for the child to be granted (Malaysian) citizenship,” he explained.
He cautioned that if the law is amended to give automatic citizenship, then such individuals will have dual citizenship.
“From the perspective of gender equality, Article 8(2) of the federal constitution has guaranteed that, which is why Suriani has won in the high court,” he said.
He was referring to the case of Family Frontiers president Suriani Kempe, who, along with six other women, filed a lawsuit against the government to grant their children born abroad to automatically be recognised as Malaysian citizens.
“Because our country does not recognise dual citizenship as mentioned under Article 24 and 25, we need to harmonise these before we can make the big decision,” he said.
On September 9, 2021, the Kuala Lumpur High Court had ruled that the government must grant citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers with foreign spouses.
The ruling was based on Article 8(2) of the federal constitution which stipulates that there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground “only of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender”.
However, that ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeal in August 2022.
Previously, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said had told the Malay Mail that the bill to amend the federal constitution to automatically allow Malaysian mothers to pass their citizenship to their children born overseas will only be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat sitting in June.
She added that according to Article 159 of the federal constitution, the bill would require the consent of the Conference of Rulers.
On February 18, Azalina and Saifuddin announced in a joint statement that the cabinet has agreed to amend the federal constitution to let Malaysian mothers married to foreign spouses pass their citizenship to their children born overseas. – The Vibes, March 23, 2023
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