Citizenship amendments: Take closer look, consider our suggestions – MCRA

SHAH ALAM - The Malaysian Citizenship Rights Alliance (MCRA) today says that the Home Ministry had understood the need to take a closer look at the proposed amendment to be made in regards to the citizenship law and hoped that the ministry would take into consideration the points and suggestion they had been advocating.

The group said that the Home Ministry would be presenting a revised set of amendments to Cabinet today and the former stressed the importance of the revisions reflecting the constitutional rights and equality principles.

“We support the vital need to address long standing issues of migration through porous borders particularly in parts of East Malaysia.

“The solutions however, must target the root causes of the problem, which include poor border controls, economic reliance on migrant labour and endemic corruption.

“Amending the Federal Constitution to disenfranchise our children will not solve the underlying problem.

“If the government is seeking to introduce solutions through the issuance of regulations or administrative circulars, these must be publicly disclosed and subject to parliamentary review and approval,” the statement read.

Among the amendments that MCRA had been advocating for were:

1. To retain and proceed with the proposed amendments for Malaysian mothers to confer citizenship to their overseas-born children, i.e to Article 14(1)(b) Sections 1(b) and 1(c) of Part II of the Second Schedule, which will give effect to the constitutionally guaranteed right to equality under Article 8.
2. To retain Section 19B of Part III of the Second Schedule relating to the conferment of citizenship rights by operation of law to foundlings and stateless children;
3. To retain the Constitutional safeguard against statelessness, namely Section 1(e) of Part II of the Second Schedule, which protects children including those born out of wedlock to Malaysian men, and stateless children adopted by Malaysians.
4. To retain the words “permanently resident” in Section 1(a) of Part II of the Second Schedule, which allows children of permanent residents to obtain Malaysian citizenship

"These revisions must uphold the constitutional principles of equality and prevent statelessness among children born in Malaysia," MCRA said.

Notably, MCRA emphasised the significance of allowing Malaysian mothers to confer citizenship to their overseas-born children, safeguarding against statelessness, and preserving the rights of children born to Malaysian men out of wedlock or adopted by Malaysians.

MCRA also reiterated the importance of not hastily pushing forward amendments that could diminish existing citizenship rights without comprehensive data and analysis of their consequences.

"We reiterate that any proposals to amend the Federal Constitution that reduce and or take away existing rights to citizenship must not be hastily pushed forward without hard data and full understanding of the immediate and long-term consequences," the alliance said.

Previously, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail announced that the Cabinet had given the green light for the proposal over the Federal Constitution amendment involving citizenship to be tabled in Dewan Rakyat.

Saifuddin said the ministry would also submit a request to the Dewan Rakyat's secretary for the amendment to be included in the House proceedings, this year.

The amendment amends subsection (b) of article 14 to include the term "mother" in order to facilitate the legal acquisition of the child's citizenship.

Last February, the government announced that the cabinet had agreed to amend the Federal Constitution to allow Malaysian mothers married to foreigners to be able to obtain automatic citizenship for their children born abroad.

This involves the amendment of Section 1(1)(d) and Section 1(1)(e) of Part I in the Second Schedule, and Section 1(b) and Section 1(c) in Part II of the same schedule.

However, Saifuddin in June last year, announced that the proposed amendments to Part III of the Federal Constitution would be presented to the Conference of Rulers in July and that the government was in the process of finalising the proposed amendments comprehensively.

Some of the key proposed amendments include entirely removing sections 1(e) and 2(3) of the Second Schedule, Part II of the FC; removing the right of foundlings, including abandoned children to citizenship by operation of law under Section 19B of the Second Schedule in Part III of the constitution; and removing the words "permanently resident" in Section 1(a) of the Second Schedule in Part II of the constitution.

MCRA had previously issued an open letter signed by more than a hundred civil society members adressed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the Cabinet on the proposed citizenship law amendments.

The letter acknowledged and supported the government's intention to amend the Federal Constitution to grant Malaysian mothers equal rights to confer citizenship to their overseas-born children but expressed deep concern over five proposed amendments that they deemed regressive and potentially harmful to vulnerable groups, particularly children.