Onus on parents to apply for children's citizenship, says Azis

PARLIAMENT | Deputy Home Minister Mohd Azis Jamman said today that the onus is on parents to ensure their children possess the necessary documentation for citizenship applications to prevent them from becoming stateless.

"The burden of proof for the (citizenship of the) child is on the shoulders of the parents, not on the government.

"The problem is, many marriages are not registered, and when your marriage is not registered, the child born has to bear the problems.

"If you dare to get married, dare to register, dare to bear responsibility," he told the Dewan Rakyat.

Azis was referring to marriages between foreign women and Malaysian men that remain unregistered at the time of a child's birth.

According to the Federal Constitution, a child is only given automatic Malaysian citizenship if the mother is a citizen.

Azis (photo, below) was responding to a question from Ngeh Koo Ham (Harapan-Beruas), who asked about Putrajaya's decision regarding children who are rendered stateless from such marriages.

The deputy minister explained that the government is open to considering citizenship applications from these children, but it is up to their parents or guardians to ensure all their documents are in order.

"Even in such a situation, the government still accepts applications, not under Article 14 (of the Federal Constitution), but under Article 15A," he said.

Article 14 deals with citizenship by operation of law, whereas Article 15A states that the government "may, in such special circumstances as it thinks fit, cause any person under the age of 21 years to be registered as a citizen."

[More to follow]  - Mkini