Groups tick off Putrajaya over shroud of secrecy in amending citizenship laws

Some 50 organisations and dozens of individual activists involved in the fight for equal citizenship have voiced concern and warned Putrajaya against any attempt to quietly amend citizenship laws that could victimise tens of thousands of stateless children, despite the government's pledge to go ahead with a constitutional amendment to help those born abroad to Malaysian citizen mothers.

They said there have been mixed messages and little details on amendments being proposed by the government, adding that stakeholders were not fully engaged in discussions.

"It goes without saying that any proposal to restrict or abrogate fundamental liberties and rights, including citizenship rights, ought not to be done in a shroud of secrecy and without due consultation," said a joint statement issued by 49 NGOs and 67 activists, academicians and lawyers.

"We are disappointed by this lack of clarity and transparency, given the assurances of open engagement by this new government."

This comes even as Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution recently announced that the government would solve some 10,000 stateless cases this year.

The government also has agreed to amend laws to solve cases of children being denied citizenship because they were born abroad to their Malaysian mothers, with the word "mother" to be included in the Federal Constitution's provisions on citizenship rights.

But there have been worries that other categories of stateless people – children born out of wedlock, those adopted by Malaysians as well as abandoned children and those from generational undocumented families – could be effectively denied citizenship under plans being discussed to restrict current laws.

In their statement, the group warned that the government's move to solve the problems of one category of stateless people does not justify curtailing the rights of those in the other categories.

"No state should offer to make such amendments only in return for curtailing or restricting the citizenship rights and entitlements of another group," they said.

They reminded the government that only Malaysia and Barbados deny citizenship to children born to men outside legal marriage.

They also took the government to task for failing to abide by the Federal Court's landmark ruling in 2021, which granted citizenship to a teenager who was abandoned at birth by his unknown mother and adopted by a Malaysian couple.

"We, therefore, call upon the government, and in particular the home affairs ministry, to address this situation immediately by providing full disclosure regarding the extent and implications of the amendments to citizenship rights that it intends to propose and by holding a holistic and transparent consultation process with all relevant stakeholders," the statement added.

Among the groups who signed the statement are Yayasan Chow Kit, Association of Women Lawyers, Empower, Lawyers for Liberty, Malaysian Council for Child Welfare, North-South Initiative, Family Frontiers, Proham, Pusat Komas, Sisters in Islam, Suaram, Stateless Malaysians Citizenship Movement and Women's Centre for Change.

Others include lawyers and child rights activists, many of whom have been involved in the plight of some one million stateless children in the country.