We refer to the statement made by the prime minister on Nov 6, where he stated that since the Conference of Rulers has taken a certain position in the proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution on the issue of citizenship, the government must proceed with the proposed amendments.
The prime minister must own up and let the rakyat know unequivocally that, it is in fact, his own government’s decision to amend the Constitution on citizenship.
The proposed amendment was initiated by the Home Ministry and brought to his cabinet and thereafter, it was his government that produced the proposed amendment to the Conference of Rulers.
At this point in time, under the Federal Constitution, the Conference of Rulers only had what was presented to them by the government and could only consent or not to their proposed amendment to be tabled at Parliament.
It is important to note that no final decision on the proposed amendment has been made until it is tabled and debated in Parliament.
It is also important to note that, the regressive part of the proposed amendments has never been raised by any other government prior to the present one.
Whilst one of the proposed amendments touches on the granting of citizenship to children of Malaysian mothers who had delivered their babies abroad, a move that was proposed by the previous Perikatan Nasional government, other remaining proposed amendments are unnecessary and plainly cruel amendments to the Federal Constitution.
As it is, pre-amendment, there are already thousands of children and adults alike who are living life as stateless persons here in Malaysia. They are not citizens of any country but living in the margins of society in Malaysia.
Many are deprived of basic human rights such as the right to education due to not having any proper identification, they are unable to travel or leave the country because they cannot own any passport and the right to livelihood as they are unable to have proper jobs due to lack of documentation.
Who are those affected? They are adopted children, foundlings, orphans and a child being born out of wedlock.
We agree with PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, when he was quoted by The Star on March 1, stating that even children born out of wedlock should not be denied citizenship if one of his parents is Malaysian as it is a right given to the child under the Federal Constitution.
As it is, the Federal Constitution protects these types of children from being stateless.
Under the Federal Constitution, by operation of law, these children will be deemed a citizen of Malaysia.
‘Where is the empathy?’
What the government is doing with the proposed amendment is to strip this inherent right which was conferred by our nation’s supreme law and by the makers of the law.
The law was made out of empathy and to ensure that every child born in Malaysia or born to a Malaysian would not have to lead a life as a stateless. It ensured that.
So, why the current government is so adamant in taking and stripping that right away is beyond us and outright unimaginable.
What the current government has done is take a progressive idea, which was to grant citizenship to children born to Malaysian mothers and put it together with a whole lot of other regressive amendments to strip away the right of citizenship to so many innocent people who were born in Malaysia.
This move by the government not only will cause more and more backlogs in the National Registration Department and Home Ministry, but will also see a huge increase in the number of stateless persons in our country.
Therefore, we demand the current government, especially the prime minister to stop using the narrative that this proposed amendment is a decision of the Conference of Rulers.
He should own up to the fact that this was his government’s move to give more unconditional powers to the home minister to dictate who will become citizens of Malaysia and be responsible for the fate of countless stateless persons in the country.
We also demand the government revoke the proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution which affects adopted children, foundlings, orphans and children born out of wedlock. - Mkini
SASHA LYNA ABDUL LATIF is Bersatu’s legal and constitution bureau deputy chairperson.
MOURHRNA ANETHA REDDY is Bersatu’s associate Women’s wing chief.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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