The government does not need to wait until the Federal Court decision to start the process of changing the Federal Constitution to allow mothers to automatically confer citizenship to their children, said lawyer Latheefa Koya.
This comes after Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the government is waiting for all appeals to be exhausted before it can move on the matter.
"The minister is wrong! No need to wait for the Federal Court's decision...
"Truth is, there's no political will," Latheefa said on Twitter.
"It's as simple as adding the words "or mother" to para 1(b) and 1(c) to end discrimination against Malaysian mothers in citizenship laws and drag our laws out of medievalism," she said.
Latheefa added that the statements made by opposition MPs also showed there is a commitment to support the government's bill to amend the constitution on this matter.
"Why dither?" the former MACC chief asked.
Yesterday, Wan Junaidi said the matter is beyond the powers of the government as it needed to wait for the Federal Court's decision on the case, and involve the Conference of Rulers.
The de facto law minister added that a constitutional amendment would require the involvement of the Conference of Rulers.
Govt’s appeal allowed
The Court of Appeal earlier this month overturned the 2021 landmark decision of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, which ruled that Malaysian mothers have the same right as Malaysian fathers to confer citizenship by operation of law to children born overseas.
In a two-one majority, the three-person bench of the Court of Appeal, chaired by judge Kamaludin Md Said, allowed the appeal by the three appellants - the government, the home minister and the National Registration Department (NRD) director-general.
On Sept 9 last year, the High Court ruled that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers are automatically entitled to Malaysian citizenship.
The respondents in the matter are six Malaysian mothers and NGO, Family Frontiers.
Malaysia is one of two dozen countries where mothers can’t automatically confer citizenship to their offspring.
The United Nations said such laws can lead to statelessness or stop children from accessing basic human rights, especially in the case of absent fathers.
Some Malaysian mothers who gave birth abroad have managed to secure citizenship for their children, albeit after years of applying, while others have failed without any reason given. - Mkini
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