Changes to citizenship laws change nothing for thousands born to Malaysian mothers

Rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) has taken the government to task for failing to address the plight of thousands of children born to Malaysian mothers abroad in the constitutional amendments tabled today, as they only apply to children born after the proposed amendments came into effect.

It cited Clause 12(1) of the Bill tabled by Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution today.

As a result, it said, these children born to Malaysian mothers abroad would not only remain stateless, but would also be at the mercy of the home minister in recognising them as citizens.

"As before, they can only apply to the government for citizenship by registration, which is subject to the absolute discretion of the Home Minister. It was the failure or refusal of the Home Ministry to grant citizenship to them all this while that led to the long campaign to amend Section 1(b)," said lawyer and LFL adviser N Surendran, referring to the provision in the constitution which will be amended to replace the word "father" with "parents", removing discrimination in granting automatic citizenship to children born abroad to Malaysian mothers who married foreigners.

Surendran said that despite the change, stateless children "will be back to square one", adding that they had been given "false hopes" of a solution to their citizenship problems.

Surendran said the government must ensure that the proposed amendments also benefit those who are currently denied citizenship due to the existing wording in the constitution.

"To maintain Clause 12(1) in the Bill would be a betrayal of the repeated promises of government leaders including the prime minister, that their citizenship problems would be resolved by amendments to the constitution," he added.