PUTRAJAYA, Jan 9 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that the government has set up a special committee to look into all citizenship matters in the country.
"The Home Ministry has started preparing a Cabinet paper with regards to this matter.
"It should be ready the earliest by February,” Saifuddin told a press conference here at the National Registration Department (NRD) today after handing over approval letters for citizenship applications.
He was responding to reporters’ question on Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said’s statement where the government will soon begin the process to amend the Federal Constitution to allow Malaysian women the right to grant citizenship to their children, including those who were born overseas to foreign fathers.
Elaborating further on the committee, Saifuddin said it was made clear that the committee will look into matters encompassing every aspect of citizenship matters.
The issue drew public attention after six women whose children born under such circumstances, helped by rights organisation Family Frontiers, were aided in filing legal action on December 18, 2020, seeking a declaration that their children could be declared Malaysian citizenships.
On September 9, 2021, it was reported that the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled in their favour, saying the word "father" in the Federal Constitution should be read as representative of both parents considering that Article 8(2) states that there should be no discrimination against any Malaysian citizen.
However, the Attorney-General's Chambers appealed the decision and on August 5 last year, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court ruling.
When asked on the status of the case, Saifuddin said the government will allow the case to go through due process in court.
"That is the due process. While we wait for the due process it will not deter the government’s committeemen to look into Constitutional amendment,” he said, adding the case is now at Federal Court.
Saifuddin said the government is also looking into expediting the citizenship application process.
"As soon as I took office, I made a point to look into who can ease the application process for citizenship.
"We will try to expedite the process starting with the backlogged cases in accordance with laws without compromising national security.
"Why am I prioritising this? It is important because a lot of these laws were made 50 years ago,” he said, referring to the rise in mixed marriages between Malaysian women and foreigners.
According to Saifuddin, there are 54,000 applicants out of which 7,000 have been approved while 36,000 are currently being processed.
