• Hew Ling Poa, a 52-year-old grandmother, remains puzzled as to why she still holds a permanent resident (PR) status despite both her parents being Malaysian. Her younger brother is Malaysian, her late husband is Malaysian, her 25-year-old daughter is Malaysian, and her grandchild is Malaysian. However, Hew, now in her 50s, is still holding a red identity card.
• Our national football team was in the Middle East in 2022 preparing for the World Cup qualifiers. In the squad were three naturalised citizens who were donning Malaysian colours (that Malaysia was beaten 4-0 by UAE and 2-1 by Vietnam is a moot point). All three arrived in Malaysia in 2016-2017 to play in the national football league. In short, they had been in Malaysia for about four to five years.
Last Friday, the cabinet discussed proposed constitutional amendments pertaining to the granting of citizenship.
Although details were scant, there were enough voices within the government benches to claim unhappiness over proposed constitutional amendments in granting citizenship which could see some MPs voting against party lines.
“Reading from just the room consisting of just our own guys (government MPs), (it) sent clear signals that the proposed amendments, if (the bill) hit the floor (Dewan Rakyat) without ‘decoupling’, there will be some who are compelled to break whip in order not to break conscience,” noted Ipoh Timur MP Howard Lee.
Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan told Malaysiakini that there are concerns among the government lawmakers that the proposed amendments have gone beyond what was agreed upon in the Pakatan Harapan manifesto.
From what we heard and presented by NGOs, he said, it has gone beyond that, and it will be regressive.
It has been wrongly argued by the then government that citizenship is not a right but a privilege accorded by the government in accordance with the laws of the country.
The proposed amendments have also received flak from Lawyers for Liberty which slammed Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s defence of the proposed changes.
The human rights NGO’s director Zaid Malek said it was appalling that Saifuddin is obstinately defending the proposed amendments.
“This in itself, at best, shows a total lack of understanding by the home minister and, at worst, a deliberate misrepresentation of statelessness in the country.
Players’ naturalisation
There are perhaps hundreds if not thousands who have been denied citizenship by operation of law due to the failure of the National Registration Department (NRD) to correctly administer the law.
The cases of the footballers are good examples. From 2014 to 2021, 25 players have been naturalised. How did they become citizens?
Article 19(3) of the Federal Constitution states that: “The periods of residence in the Federation or the relevant part of it which are required for the grant of a certificate of naturalisation are periods which amount in the aggregate to not less than 10 years in the 12 years immediately preceding the date of the application for the certificate, and which include the 12 months immediately preceding that date.”
According to the Home Ministry’s website, citizenship by naturalisation is for those who fulfil the minimum residency requirements and have adequate knowledge of the Malay language.
However, no one would have remembered the cases of these footballers. After all, when the BN/Umno was in power, there was nothing they could not do. It was also a period when the government could break the law and could not be challenged.
The then home minister and current Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi could at the stroke of a pen grant citizenship disregarding the requirements and the protocols,
It was also a time when he ridiculed and threatened media practitioners to protect wrongdoers within the government and the party.
‘Project IC’
Shouldn’t the lives and welfare of Malaysian-born children and foreign spouses who made Malaysia their home decades ago be treated fairly and given priority? Footballers don’t even qualify by a long shot, let alone when their standards can only be described as average.
From officialdom, which has broken the law for foreign footballers who have a short playing span, can there be compassion, kindness and consideration for juveniles like the grandmother and foreign spouses married to Malaysians who are here permanently?
The NRD has adopted a “we make the decision and if you don’t like it, go to court” policy and the number of cases reported in law journals reflect the predicament of the wannabe citizens.
It does not have a clean track record either. While some errant officers were arrested for their shenanigans in “creating” citizens, the whole department was named and shamed for its role in the “Project IC” in Sabah.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry on undocumented migrants in Sabah in 2012 revealed the complicity of the NRD in granting citizenship to unqualified foreigners.
The inquiry was told that after PBS defeated BN/Umno in the 1985 state elections, the NRD was directed to issue blue identity cards to thousands of foreigners in constituencies that PBS won majorities of less than 1,000.
In the meantime, it takes several years before the files of deserving applicants are processed. They remain stateless, unable to seek employment and be useful citizens.
The question is: Do foreign journeymen who end up on our shores seeking fortunes have more rights than one who was born in Malaysia and made it his or her home over five decades? - Mkini
R NADESWARAN is a veteran journalist who writes on bread-and-butter issues. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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