KUALA LUMPUR – 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.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said told Malay Mail that the bill is expected to be tabled in the following sitting as “there are some issues to be further deliberated, especially the issue of dual citizenship”.
“I hope we can make it for the June sitting. A cabinet committee on the citizenship issue has been formed and is currently deliberating on issues pertaining to citizenship in preparation for the next sitting,” she was quoted as saying.
Previously, it was reported that the bill was expected to be tabled in the current Parliament session, which ends on April 4 for Dewan Rakyat and April 6 for the upper House.
Dewan Rakyat’s second sitting is scheduled from June 12 to 27, while Dewan Negara sits from July 3 to 6, and June 10 and 11.
On whether the bill is ready to be tabled, she said: “The bill, in both languages, is ready, pending sorting the implementation issues.”
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 Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin NAsution Ismail said in a joint statement that the cabinet agreed to amend the federal constitution to let Malaysian mothers married to foreign spouses pass their citizenship to their children born overseas.
“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 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, March 11, 2023
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