[UPDATED] Cabinet agrees to citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian mums

KUALA LUMPUR – The cabinet has agreed to amend the federal constitution to let Malaysian mothers married to foreign spouses to pass their citizenship to their children born overseas.

The matter was decided at the cabinet meeting yesterday, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said in a joint statement.

“The cabinet today studied and agreed to the proposal to amend the federal constitution with regard to Part I section 1(1)(d) and Part II section 1(b) and section 1(c) under the Second Schedule to confer citizenship by operation of law to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers who are married to a non-Malaysian spouse,” the ministers said.

The amendments would entail replacing the word “father” with “at least one of the parents” (“sekurang-kurangnya seorang daripada ibu bapanya”).

This change would allow Malaysian mothers to have equal rights under the constitution, the ministers added. Currently, only Malaysian fathers with a foreign spouse enjoy the right to confer citizenship on their children born overseas.

They said the amendment bill is expected to be tabled in the current Parliament session, which ends on March 30 for the Dewan Rakyat.

Saifuddin and Azalina also said that other amendments related to citizenship under Part III will be studied further by committees under the Home Ministry and be tabled to the cabinet for consideration.

“The impact of this decision is that children born overseas before or after Malaysia Day, who have at least one parent who is a Malaysian citizen, have the right to receive citizenship,” they added.

“This is in line with the unity government’s commitment to acknowledge equality between women and men and stop the discrimination against women in Malaysia.

“It will also overcome weaknesses in current provisions for citizenship and resolve the backlog of cases of women who are affected having applied for citizenship for their children but are facing unreasonable delays.”

They added that the amendments would also provide a clear interpretation of the law and avoid different interpretations arising from the court. 

The courts had held different interpretations of the word “father” in a suit brought against the government by advocacy group Family Frontiers and six Malaysian mothers whose children were born overseas and were unable to obtain citizenship here.

The Court of Appeal in August last year overturned the high court’s ruling in favour of the mothers, disagreeing with the lower court judge that the word “father” could be extended to include the mother or both parents. In a 2-1 decision, the appellate court judges held that the word could only mean “biological father”.

The mothers have pursued the matter at the Federal Court, which granted them leave in December last year to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision. – The Vibes, February 18, 2023