Citizenship law changes: Case of tail wagging the dog?

PSM is very disturbed that the Madani government is insisting on proceeding with the amendments to several articles on citizenship in the Federal Constitution.

While welcoming the amendment that confers equal rights to Malaysian women who deliver children overseas, we are quite dismayed that the government intends to;

- Drop “permanent resident” from Second Schedule, Part II, 1(a), thereby withdrawing the provision of citizenship by operation of law to children of parents with Red Identity Cards.

- Removing subsection 1(e) from Part II of the Second Schedule. This will seriously disadvantage abandoned babies who are currently citizens by operation of law.

- The proposed amendment to 19(b) of Part 3 of the Second Schedule has a similar effect of depriving foundlings (abandoned newborns) of the right to citizenship by “operation of law”.

- Reduction of the age of applicants from 21 years to 18 years. This will narrow the window of opportunity for applicants under Articles 15(2) and 15A of the Federal Constitution.

- Amendment of 26(2) from two years after marriage to two years after obtaining citizenship. This will have the consequences of forcing women to stay in failed (or abusive marriages) or become stateless, as they would have had to renounce their original citizenship on obtaining Malaysian citizenship.

The reason why PSM is unhappy with these amendments is that we have been handling dozens of such cases over the years. We have seen from close up, the impact of statelessness on individuals - it blights their development!

Children of foreign mothers

Let’s take the case of a child born in Malaysia to an Indonesian mother who had not registered her marriage to her Malaysian husband at the time of birth of that child. That child would be classified as “illegitimate” by the registration department and his/her citizenship will be determined by referring only to the mother’s status.

Invariably, “Not a citizen” or “Not yet determined” will be written on that child’s birth certificate.

This child will face difficulties in registering in a public school. Special permission from the District Education Office will have to be obtained. The child will be charged additional fees, and be ineligible for free textbooks and subsidised school meals.

If the child’s citizenship status isn’t resolved by the time he/she reaches upper secondary school, he/she will not be allowed to sit for the public exams. If the child falls ill, he/she would be charged much higher rates at government clinics and hospitals.

The route to citizenship for this child is via Article 15A of the Federal Constitution. The father can apply under this provision, but the decision is discretionary. Most often, after a wait of three to six years, a rejection letter is issued by the Home Ministry. No reasons are given.

The local Registration Office is not in the know either. They will just say “apply again”. We have tried getting DNA tests done to prove the Malaysian father is truly the biological father. But still, most cases get rejected. However sometimes, just before elections, a group of such applicants will be awarded citizenship.

Many of these individuals enter adulthood without much formal education and an identity card. Their non-citizen status which is recorded in their birth certificate, precludes them from the provision of any identity cards whether blue or red.

This impacts on their ability to enlist in vocational training institutions or apply for jobs in the formal sector as the employer cannot register them with EPF or Socso. They are constrained to go for non-formal contract jobs without any social protection.

Girl children in this predicament will transmit their stateless condition to their children, as without an identity card, their marriage with their Malaysian husband cannot be registered. The cycle of marginalisation is then extended to another generation. But to what purpose?

Children of women without documents

There is another group of children with a similar predicament. Their mothers, though born in Malaysia, do not have proper documents, often because of alcoholism and apathy on the part of the grandparents.

These mothers are not able to register their marriages, so Article 17 of Part 3 of the Second Schedule is invoked by the Registration Department to negate the fact that the father of their children is a Malaysian citizen. These children face all the problems described above.

An even more pitiful group are the abandoned children brought up in children’s homes. Though there are provisions in the Federal Constitution that provide citizenship by operation of law, this route is seldom utilised by the administrators of the homes or the Welfare Departments to obtain citizenship for these children.

These children who have already been damaged by the lack of family life and parental love, are also saddled with being stateless.

Whose interests do these amendments serve?

The Madani government must pause to ask themselves whose interest they are serving by making the route to citizenship even more difficult for these unfortunate children. It does not help the individuals or families affected by statelessness.

It does not in any way benefit ordinary Malaysian citizens to marginalise this group further and impede their acquisition of academic qualifications and/or vocational skills. It certainly does not help the national economy to enlarge the group of marginalised persons with poor skills.

So why is the Madani government so hell-bent on pushing through these amendments?

I can only think of one reason. There are some “little Napoleans” in the Home Ministry who have been affronted that a group of women took the matter to court and obtained an order to change their “SOP” of handling Malaysian women delivering children overseas.

Their power has been challenged. So, they need to send a message as to “who is the boss”. And this is their way of doing it.

But that begs the question – what is the home minister doing? Isn’t he the “boss”? He can easily split the amendments into two sets.

The amendment that addresses the issue of Malaysian women delivering overseas can be tabled in Parliament as soon as possible, while the other amendments can be referred to a committee for further analysis. The committee should ask the proposers of the other amendments how these benefit the nation.

But it looks as though the “tail is wagging the dog” at this point, and quite vigorously at that.

This is a significant inflection point in the trajectory of the Madani government. If the Madani government is unable to contain feudalistic and vindictive elements within the administration and pushes on with these mean-spirited amendments that further marginalise one of the most disadvantaged groups in our society, then perhaps it is time for the public to reconsider its political allegiance.

For PSM, this is a big red line, and we will be extremely unhappy if the Madani cabinet pushes through with these amendments despite the many appeals from NGOs and individuals. - Mkini

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DR MICHAEL JEYAKUMAR DEVARAJ is PSM chairperson and former Sungai Siput MP.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.