The government has no intentions so far of withdrawing its appeal against a High Court ruling that overseas-born children of Malaysian mothers are entitled to automatic citizenship.
Deputy Home Minister Jonathan Yasin (above) said the court has already fixed the appeal hearing for March 23.
“The case will be heard on March 23, 2022. We will listen, and depending on the decision of this case, the government will then decide what to do.
“So far, we will continue with the appeal,” Jonathan said during his winding-up speech for the royal address debate in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Ramkarpal Singh (Harapan-Bukit Gelugor) questioned the rationale behind this as the government had previously indicated they would take a different stand.
He also noted that the government could decide to withdraw its appeal.
In response, Jonathan reiterated that the case is still ongoing and that both parties in the case are still active.
“We wait till March 23, and we have to respect because the court’s jurisdiction is a separate entity in a democratic country.
“They can make the decision and after that, the government will decide what to do,” the deputy minister said.
On Sept 9, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur declared that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers are automatically entitled to Malaysian citizenship.
The government had subsequently filed an appeal against the decision to the Court of Appeal.
Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin had previously claimed that the government’s appeal is meant to buy time while they look into amending the constitution to make it easier for Malaysian mothers married to foreigners to give birth overseas.
Ex-IGP should step forward about police cartel
On a separate matter, Ramkarpal had also questioned the deputy home minister on whether the government will look further into claims of the existence of a police cartel.
This is after the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) said they could not confirm the existence of a cartel among police ranks as alleged by former inspector-general of police (IGP) Abdul Hamid Bador.
As they could not confirm its existence, Ramkarpal said this means there is still a possibility that the cartel exists and thus, further action is necessary as this is a serious matter.
Jonathan then urged Abdul Hamid to step forward and hand over all the information he had as well as the names of those related to this police cartel issue.
“Since it is the ex-IGP who made the accusation, it is better for him to lodge a report and give all the data he says he has.
“Because I see he made his statement (about the police cartel) when he was about to retire, and we are confused as to why he did not take action when he first became the IGP.
“If it is true the claims he made, we invite him to provide and reveal the names of those involved. We are ready to investigate this openly to get to the truth,” he said.
At his final press conference in March last year, then IGP Hamid alleged the existence of a “cartel” in the police force, whose ambition is to dominate the force for their own personal interests.
He said this group, which included high-ranking officers with connections to crime syndicates, had also purportedly conspired to get rid of him as the IGP.
Hamid had also alleged the cartel members include younger police personnel who colluded in attempts to remove him as part of a bigger plan to control the force for their personal benefits. - Mkini
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