Citizenship: G25 backs opposition to constitutional amendment plans

The G25 group has voiced support for an activist’s opposition to proposed constitutional amendments that will jeopardise the citizenship given to Malaysian-born children who do not have citizenship elsewhere.

It pointed out that Malaysians cannot allow the country to take away the rights of vulnerable children who are protected under the Constitution through the amendment of Article 14(1)(b), Section 1(e).

The group said this provision provides protection to children, through no fault of their own, who were born in the country without proper documentation of their birth, such as foundlings, those who are abandoned, and those born out of wedlock or to stateless parents.

“It is an injustice that should not even be considered as it further marginalises children born in our country who are already at a social and economic disadvantage, and who have faced enough trauma and hardships without having this stripped from them.

"We call on our prime minister to uphold his concept of Malaysia Madani, where the “i” in Madani stands for ihsan or care and compassion.

“We cannot claim to provide care and be compassionate if we deny children, who are our most vulnerable, the rights that they and any child, no matter their circumstance, deserve,” G25 said in a statement today.

“Malaysia Madani will not succeed if it fails to protect our children," it warned.

G25 was responding to children's rights activist and Yayasan Chow Kit co-founder Dr Hartini Zainudin's call to preserve the Federal Constitution provision.

The provision grants citizenship by operation of law to persons born on or after Malaysia Day ‘within the Federation who is not born a citizen of any country otherwise than by virtue of this paragraph’.

'Think of the children'

Elaborating, G25 said removing any rights accorded to children would be contrary to the country's pledge as a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

"We G25, call on our government and politicians to not support the proposed amendments to Article 14(1)(b), particularly the removal of the Section 1(e) of Part II in the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution.

“We fail to see any justification for the removal of this provision,” it added.

The group further voiced concerns about the proposed constitutional amendments regarding the citizenship of children born abroad to Malaysian mothers.

As it stands, children born abroad to Malaysian fathers are given automatic citizenship, while children born overseas to Malaysian mothers are not.

G25 urged the government to rectify this "wrongful discrimination" against women and their children with immediate effect.

"Amendments to the Constitution that affect children should always be just. Its objectives should always be to provide greater protection and stability for our children, and not take it away.

"We call on them (government) to think of the children." - Mkini