Mums of overseas-born kids recount discriminatory ordeals

 

As the hearing date looms for the Court of Appeal to deliver its decision on the government’s appeal to deny citizenship to overseas-born children of Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers, several mothers have gathered to recount their tales through Malaysia’s allegedly gender-discriminatory laws. 

This includes security guard Lavinder Kaur, who had to be separated from her daughter for over a year during the Covid-19 pandemic over visa issues.

Her daughter, Sarabjit Kaur, who was born in India, had been living in Malaysia on a student visa, which expired when she turned 18 years old. 

However, she was allegedly refused a visa renewal and was told to apply for an international student visa instead, according to Family Frontiers lead coordinator Bina Ramanand. 

“She’s registered to sit for SPM, but immigration refused to give her a (student) visa because she was 18 years old. They told her to get an international student visa. 

“Firstly, they (Lavinder’s family) cannot afford that, and secondly, which college is going to give her a seat (in the institution) when she doesn’t have an SPM certificate?” Bina questioned. 

She then pointed out that children of expatriates are able to obtain long-term social visit passes and stay in the country past the age of 18.  

However, overseas-born children of Malaysian mothers may only be awarded an international student visa or employment pass after turning 18.

Bureaucratic hoops

The Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled on Sept 9 last year that all Malaysian women married to foreign men have the same rights as Malaysian men married to foreign women to confer citizenship by operation of law on their children who are born overseas.

While some Malaysian mothers finally succeeded in registering their children as citizens with the National Registration Department, others were not so lucky.

The government is appealing against the High Court ruling.

Following the High Court ruling, it was reported in June that many overseas-born children of Malaysian mothers were told that their citizen applications would take another six months to be processed. 

Data by the National Registration Department (NRD) showed that only 19 of the 3,407 citizenship applications had been approved from 2018 to June this year. Seven were rejected.

Yesterday, Family Frontiers and the United Kingdom and Malaysian Law Students’ Union (KPUM) held a screening of a short film titled ‘Let’s Talk Citizenship Born to a Malaysian mother but not Malaysian?’

The film narrates the story of a woman named Aini, who fears for the uncertain future of her autistic child, Nana. Nana was born in 2016 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Ummal Remiza and her husband had always planned to raise their children in Malaysia, but like many others, were unaware of the citizenship struggles her child would face. 

The bureaucratic hassle began when she gave birth to her firstborn in Qatar, only to be told that an application needed to be submitted under Article 15(2) of the Federal Constitution. 

Article 15(2) allows for the citizenship of a child as long as one parent is a Malaysian citizen.

However, Ummal was warned early on that her application would not guarantee citizenship for her daughter.

‘Kenapa you kahwin orang luar?’

She said it has been eight years since she applied for citizenship for her daughter and she had been discriminated against by the NRD throughout it all.

“When I go there (to the NRD), and I’m sure other mothers can relate to this, I get asked ‘Kenapa you kahwin orang luar?’ (Why did you marry a foreigner),” she said. 

Apart from the financial strain the citizenship and visa application processes imposed on their family, Ummal also noted discrepancies in the system.

“One department will tell you that they need certain things in the checklist and when you go there, there will be another (different) checklist (containing different documents needed). 

“And they (the officers) won’t care, really, about what we face going back and forth. They will tell me that if I had chosen to marry a Malaysian it would have been better for me. 

“At the time, I did not realise I was a Malaysian woman who was being discriminated against,” she said. 

In a parliamentary reply dated Dec 1, 2021, Minister in Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar announced that a committee would be set up to holistically study proposed amendments to Article 14 of the Federal Constitution on citizenship for children born to Malaysian mothers overseas. 

Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh, however, questioned if the committee had made any progress.

Ramkarpal said he had raised the matter again in the current Parliament sitting but has yet to receive a response from the minister.  - Mkini