No controversy - PM on proposed citizenship law amendments

 

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said there should be no controversy with the proposed constitutional amendments surrounding citizenship laws.

This is despite opposition from civil societies, which say the amendments will jeopardise the citizenship given to Malaysian-born children who do not have citizenship elsewhere.

“Once you introduce amendments, there may be some implications on some other provisions.

“But generally the consensus is that the issue will be confined to the parent, (to) include father and mother.

“I don’t think it should be a controversial issue, I don’t understand how, it was crafted much earlier and should not be an issue even to the Malays,” he said to reporters.

He was attending the International Malaysian Law Conference at the Shangri-la Hotel in Kuala Lumpur today.

The government is in the process of amending the Federal Constitution to provide citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers.

However, civil societies have sounded the alarm over additional provisions in the amendments, including the removal of Section 1(e) under Article 14(1)(b) of the constitution.

Section 1(e) 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”.

In Anwar’s keynote address at the conference, the prime minister acknowledged that there are several “critical” issues that contribute to the challenges faced by stateless persons in Malaysia.

He said the Home Ministry has received numerous citizenship requests under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution, which highlights the need for urgent action.

Anwar also pointed out that efforts are already underway to resolve the issue of citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers.

“We will be tabling amendments to the Federal Constitution to replace the words ‘whose father’ in Part I and Part II of the Second Schedule with the words ‘at least one of the parents’,” he said.

Tunku Zain Al-‘Abidin Tuanku Muhriz

Earlier in the conference, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) founding president Tunku Zain Al-‘Abidin Tuanku Muhriz also touched on the proposed amendments to citizenship laws in his speech.

While he said he was pleased with the amendment to allow citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers, he noted that he was “profoundly disappointed” by the other proposed amendments.

Specifically, he singled out the removal of Section 1(e), which he said could severely exacerbate the issue of statelessness among children.

“After pressure from civil society, former ministers, and now even among the cabinet, I am hopeful that this appalling proposal is eradicated so that Malaysia can uphold its responsibilities according to the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child which the government ratified in 1995,” he said. - Mkini