KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 — Proponents against the federal government’s proposed “regressive” amendments to citizenship laws in the Federal Constitution said today they intend to submit a memorandum to the country’s highest administration and Rulers to advocate for the proposal’s review.
The proponents present were represented by civil societies such as Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas (DHRRA) Malaysia, Yayasan Chow Kit, Family Frontiers and Lawyers for Liberty.
The group said it appears that the federal government intends to proceed with amendments to the Federal Constitution that will gravely affect citizenship rights as calls for the immediate reviewing of the proposed provisions have gone unheeded.
“We intend to continue our advocacy efforts through a memorandum to the Istana Negara, Cabinet and Members of Parliament, urging them to review the regressive citizenship amendments and the negative impact they will have on children and the overall wellbeing of families in Malaysia,” they said in a press conference here.
The proponents also said they were open to any parties, including Opposition MPs in order to explain their plight on why these proposed regressive amendments cannot be allowed to pass in the Dewan Rakyat.
Tabling for the proposed constitutional amendment is expected to take place in the current Dewan Rakyat sitting; as it is a constitutional amendment, a two-thirds parliamentary majority is required for the Bill to be approved.
Yet some government backbenchers have hinted that unhappiness over the proposed constitutional amendments in granting citizenship could see some MPs from the ruling grand coalition voting against their party’s line.
In the proposed constitutional amendments, the Malaysian government plans to table amendments that would solve the citizenship problems plaguing the overseas-born children of Malaysian women with foreign husbands.
However, civil societies have since voiced their objections to the ‘regressive’ proposed amendments that would also affect children born out of wedlock to Malaysian men, stateless children adopted by Malaysian parents, foundlings or children who were abandoned (including those abandoned upon birth), and families with generations of stateless children born in Malaysia.
For the proposed citizenship amendments that remove safeguards from becoming stateless and which would potentially keep vulnerable children in a cycle of statelessness, NGOs have since then urged the Home Ministry to reconsider these amendments that “appear to be regressive and at odds with the best interests of the children involved”.
Under the Federal Constitution, acquisition of citizenship can be obtained by way of verification of citizenship status by Operation of Law (Article 14); by registration (Article 15, 15A and 16) and by naturalisation (Article 19).
Zaid Malik of Lawyers for Liberty described the move as ‘cruel’, accusing the Home Ministry of being unable to distinguish between an undocumented migrant and a stateless individual.
“The existence of these stateless individuals is a blight to the federal government and now they want to remove provisions which grants them the right to citizenship.
“Cruel doesn’t even begin to describe it,” he said.
He said there was no need to punish stateless children — who are citizens by operation of law — for the mistakes of the Home Ministry and National Registration Department in their noncompliance of the Federal Constitution.
Zaid also said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s attempt to suggest that the federal government is constrained by the final decisions made by the Conference of Rulers is unfounded.
“The Conference of Rulers are merely exercising their rights under the law but the decision to initiate, draft and proceed with these unjust amendments lies solely with the government,” he said.
Family Frontier president Suriani Kempe said the proposed constitutional amendments are nothing but a false choice manufactured by the federal government to make the issue either all or nothing.
She said not once has the federal government provided a clear, lucid reason why the amendments to confer citizenship to children born overseas can only move forward if combined with the other restrictive amendments.
“For us Malaysian mothers who have overseas-born children, this is a bitter pill to swallow.
“I think it is ironic that as we are at the cusp of reaching our goals, the government has resorted to using this strategy to make it an either all or nothing.
“This meant introducing progressive amendments for overseas-born children to Malaysian mothers be able to gain citizenship by operation of law at the expense of other groups of vulnerable children having to lose their citizenship now.
“This is a violent and cruel choice,” she said.
