At least two ministers have hailed the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision granting equal rights to mothers with foreign spouses to pass on their citizenship to their overseas-born children.
This was despite the Home Ministry, from the onset, trying to block the ruling from ever happening even though there have been many previous complaints that the constitutional provision allowing only fathers to pass on their citizenship to their overseas-born children was discriminatory.
Since a group of mothers filed the constitutional challenge in December last year, the Home Ministry under Hamzah Zainuddin had made various arguments against the legal action.
Deputy Home Minister Ismail Mohamed Said had told Parliament that mothers with foreign spouses weren't allowed to pass on their citizenship to their overseas-born children due to national security reasons.
In its legal submission, the Home Ministry argued the legal challenge was "troublesome and frivolous".
It also maintained that the practice was not discriminatory. The Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday ruled otherwise.
Both Hamzah and Ismail were retained in their existing positions under the new Ismail Sabri Yaakob administration.
Plantations and Industries Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, who is also the Council of Malaysian Women Political Leaders (Comwel) president, hailed the decision and hoped to see the court's ruling implemented.
"As mentioned by the court, this will not need any policy changes but simply to apply existing laws to uplift the spirit of the Federal Constitution.
"However, the Home Ministry and the National Registration Department must now act quickly to institutionalise and implement the said ruling by drafting the procedures for application.
"I look forward to the implementation of this ruling to many other cases involving Malaysian women applying for citizenship for their children," she said in a statement.
Meanwhile, de facto law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar called the court ruling "illuminating".
"The Federal Constitution is the supreme law of the country, and each provision ought to be interpreted harmoniously with the other in order to introduce sense and order into the constitution itself.
"Thus, judges must be brave enough to introduce that sense and harmony," he was quoted as saying by The Malay Mail.
It is not yet clear if the Home Ministry will appeal the decision.
Meanwhile, MCA Wanita chief Heng Seai Kie also called on the government not to appeal the decision.
"Wanita MCA urges the Home Ministry to respect this verdict and to not consider filing an appeal on this matter so as to uphold gender equality, the rights of women and to end discrimination against Malaysian mothers.
"By not appealing against the ruling, the Malaysian government will also reflect humanity and compassion. Why punish innocent children further as they could end up stateless?" she said.
She also called for laws to be amended to clearly allow the conferment of citizenship to any child born overseas as long as one parent is Malaysian.
She noted a similar case in May, which saw a narrow 4-3 decision by the Federal Court that denied a 10-year-old boy Malaysian citizenship on the grounds that he was born illegitimately.
The child was born to a Malaysian father and a Filipino mother.
The child was born in the Philippines in September 2010, and a few months later, he and his parents travelled to Malaysia, where the couple registered their marriage in February 2011. - Mkini
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