Filmmaker tackles unequal citizenship rights in Malaysia

 

A scene from Elroi Yee’s film showing the mother with her child who has special needs.

PETALING JAYA: Elroi Yee was just a teenager when he learned how difficult life was for children born to Malaysian mothers overseas.

“I watched my young cousin grow up in an environment where belonging and family were stressful matters to discuss,” said Yee, the co-producer of a short film titled “Saya Juga Anak Malaysia” (I am also Malaysian).

Yee’s cousin was born in New Zealand, and he witnessed the difficulties his aunt faced in trying to keep her family together in the face of Malaysian citizenship laws when the family returned to this country.

Malaysia’s constitution awards fathers the automatic right to confer citizenship on their children born abroad but the same does not apply to mothers. These children then face difficulties accessing healthcare and education, among other things.

Last September, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that citizenship by operation of law must be granted to children born abroad to Malaysian women. However, the government filed an appeal against the ruling and the appellate court is set to hear the case today.

Yee’s film sheds light on the plight of Aini Ahmad, a Malaysian mother with two children, one of whom has special needs.

Aini is struggling to get affordable healthcare for her special needs child and to enrol her in a public school amid bureaucratic challenges just to keep her daughter in the country.

Yee told FMT one of his cousins was also a special needs child. He said he wished he could have supported his aunt better.

“I guess I didn’t know how to help her,” he said. “I was barely out of my teens, but I admire her tenacity until this day. Their situation is now resolved, but I see her in every shot I made for this film.”

The 10-minute film was shot in collaboration with advocacy group Family Frontiers for the Freedom Film Fest, an annual human rights documentary festival. It is part of a campaign to address citizenship laws which deny Malaysian women equal rights to confer citizenship on their overseas-born children.

Yee said he agreed to do the project because he wanted to show that these laws affected “real mothers with real families”.

“Aini is as Malaysian as one can be – her home, her memories, her family, even the way she speaks,” he said. “Every Malaysian will be able to identify with her. Beyond the story of her struggle, we wanted to show the audience this Malaysianness.”

He said it was also important for the film to connect her story with those of other mothers who are fighting for citizenship for their children. - FMT