The Court of Appeal has set Aug 20 to hear the government’s appeal to strike out a lawsuit seeking automatic citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers.
The court fixed the hearing date today after online case management of the appeal against the legal action by six Malaysian mothers and NGO Family Frontiers.
Representing the mothers and the family rights group, lawyer Joshua Andran told Malaysiakini that the Court of Appeal set the hearing date for Aug 20.
He said the government had today sought for the hearing date to be fixed before Aug 24 which is the hearing date for the main suit before the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
Andran said the government claimed that their appeal may be rendered nugatory (pointless) if the Court of Appeal hearing of the appeal is set before High Court hears the main suit.
He added the High Court has also set Aug 5 to hear the government’s application to stay the suit pending the disposal of the appeal at the Court of Appeal.
The government is appealing against the May 6 decision of the High Court to dismiss its application to strike out the suit by the family rights group and six Malaysian mothers.
The group and six women are the seven plaintiffs while the government is the sole defendant in the suit.
In dismissing the striking-out bid with no order to costs, judge Akhtar Tahir ruled that the legal action involves an important issue that is not frivolous as contended by the government.
The judge noted, among others, that the matter involves the issue of discrimination in the country's citizenship laws against Malaysian mothers on which the government needs to give justification during the full hearing of the suit.
High Court decision 'a great sense of hope'
Family Frontiers said the May 6 High Court decision was greeted with "a great sense of hope" by hundreds of Malaysian women awaiting citizenship for their children.
“It is very disheartening that the government would attempt to deprive these women of their avenue for justice and to prolong the hardships of the women and their non-citizen children.
“Even as the government continues to question the validity and sincerity of the case filed concerning citizenship laws, thousands of Malaysian women and their non-citizen children continue facing unequal access to fundamental rights each day.
“This is a missed opportunity for the government to rectify this discrimination and make amends to its women who have been negatively impacted for over 60 years by their inability to obtain citizenship for their children on an equal basis as Malaysian men,” the group said.
Through the legal action filed on Dec 18 last year, the seven plaintiffs had sought a court declaration that Malaysian women married to foreign spouses automatically get citizenship for their children born overseas.
This came after the government refused to budge on allowing the children of these mothers to be eligible for citizenship. - Mkini
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