Wacana English Edition talk show to discuss Malaysia's sexist citizenship law

SHAH ALAM - Malaysia is among 25 countries in the world in which do not give mothers and fathers the equal rights under the country's citizenship law.

In Article 14(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution and its related provisions in the Second Schedule, only a “father” shall enjoy the privilege of passing on Malaysian citizenship to their children.

Recently, the Court of Appeal overturned a landmark decision that Malaysian mothers who are married to foreign spouses should be able to automatically pass on their citizenship to their children born overseas.

Following the decision, many parties have called for a constutional amendment so that overseas-born children could obtain citizenship from “either parent” or “either mother or father” or “both mother and father”.

In the next episode of Sinar Daily's Wacana English Edition entitled “Sexist Citizenship Law in Malaysia: What’s Next?”, panellists will be discussing on the issue faced by these mothers and their children and how the country's citizenship law affected them.

Among the topics which will be discussed were the stigma faced by these mothers and their children in their daily lives, their plans and what are the avenues that could be taken to solve the issue.

The panellists who were going to discuss about the issue on the show were family rights advocacy group Family Frontiers president Suriani Kempe, an affected mother Rachel Ng, Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto and former Home Minister Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar.

The show will be broadcasted live at 8.30pm on Friday (Aug 12) on all Sinar Daily and Sinar Harian's digital platforms.

On Sept 9, last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the government must provide citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and that the word “father” in the constitution, must include the mothers of the children.

The decision was made after the court allowed a lawsuit filed by Family Frontiers and six Malaysian women who are married to foreigners with overseas-born children seeking for their children to automatically become Malaysian citizens.

However, in a 2-1 majority decision on Aug 5, the Court of Appeal overturned the ruling after allowing an appeal by the government, Home Ministry and National Registration Department (NRD) director-general.

The Appeals Court ruled that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers who are married to foreign spouses are not entitled by operation of law to be Malaysian citizens.

The majority decision was agreed to by judge Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said who chaired the bench and judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi, while judge Datuk S. Nantha Balan dissented.