Put children’s interests first in citizenship laws, says ex-minister

 

Sharizat Abdul Jalil, who heads Umno women’s and family affairs council, called for a review of proposed changes to citizenship laws. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: An Umno leader has urged the home ministry to reconsider changes to citizenship laws that will affect abandoned children, and called for the best interests of the child to be the main priority.

As criticisms mount over a proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who heads Umno’s women and family affairs council, said tighter citizenship laws would not prevent children from being abandoned by their parents.

The government has proposed to make a constitutional amendment which would strip foundlings, such as abandoned children or orphans, of their right to citizenship.

The proposal has sparked criticism, with human rights group Lawyers for Liberty labelling the amendments as “the worst since Merdeka”.

Sharizat said the constitution guarantees basic rights to children, including those who have been abandoned. These rights include education and healthcare.

The act of abandoning a child was an extremely desperate act and an indication that a mother had no option left, she said.

“In such a situation, a desperate parent will not be less inclined to leave a child simply because we have tightened our citizenship laws,” said Shahrizat, a former minister for women, family and community development.

Shahrizat said during her tenure as minister she learnt that removing protections would only create a host of new needs for an already severely marginalised group of children.

“If it is loyalty to the country that we are concerned about, then would we not foster loyalty within a child by providing for them in their greatest hour of need?” she said.

Shahrizat said the state is obliged to assume responsibility for a child when parents cannot, an obligation in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Malaysia is a signatory.

“We may also be tempted to believe that by making it more difficult for these babies to become Malaysian, it will disincentivise parents – whether Malaysian or non-Malaysian – from abandoning their children. It will not,” she said. - FMT