Amend constitution to give mothers same citizenship rights as fathers - LFL

 

The government has been urged to amend the Federal Constitution to grant Malaysian women with foreign spouses the same rights as men in conferring citizenship to their children.

Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) coordinator Zaid Malek (above) said this is in line with Article 8(2) of the Federal Constitution which disallows discrimination on the basis of gender.

Last week, Home Affairs Deputy Minister Ismail Mohamed Said said Malaysian women with foreign husbands could not confer Malaysian citizenship on their children to avoid the issue of dual-citizenship.

This is because most countries grant the right of citizenship to the father, he said.

His remarks, which were couched on the basis of national security, courted flak for being discriminatory to women.

"The same ‘risk’ that there may be dual-citizenship also exists in relation to children of Malaysian men with foreign spouses. Why discriminate against the women?" Zaid said in a statement today.

"It should be plain as day that the issue of dual-citizenship is no threat to Malaysia’s sovereignty and security.

"This cannot be used as a reason to deny Malaysian women the right to their children’s entitlement to Malaysian citizenship," he added.

The lawyer said citizenship applications under Article 15(2) of the Constitution is also not a viable solution, as it is not automatic, and children risk being stateless if their applications are rejected.

He said the only solution is to amend Part II of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution to substitute the word "father" with "parent", which would then allow women to confer citizenship to their children as well.

Zaid is confident such an amendment would receive support from opposition MPs to secure the required two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat to amend the constitution.

"If the opposition does not support the removal of a grossly discriminatory clause of the constitution, the opposition will face the wrath of all right-thinking voters," he said.

Several opposition leaders, including Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh and Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah, were among those calling for reform to grant Malaysian women married to foreigners the right to pass down citizenship to their children. - Mkini