The government's plan to amend the Federal Constitution regarding citizenship law is expected to meet internal resistance at the Dewan Rakyat.
It comes in the form of a vocal government MP who has vowed to fight the proposal, particularly the part where Putrajaya wants to block foundlings from getting automatic citizenship.
PKR’s Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim said the government has no reason to amend the provision that grants citizenship by operation of law to abandoned children.
"What is the need to amend an existing law provision that is good, full of compassion and humanity?
"Why do you want to snatch the power to grant citizenship to innocent babies from the Federal Constitution and put it in the hand of a home minister and into the administrative bureaucracy of the Home Ministry?
"What is the point for a government to call themselves a 'reformasi' and Madani government, but when it comes to such basic and human rights of these innocent babies, they do not show any compassion, love and humanity," he told Malaysiakini.
Hassan (above) was among several government MPs that Malaysiakini contacted to get their response to Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail's announcement on Friday, where he said the cabinet has given its "full green light" to the proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution related to citizenship.
Only Hassan and another Pakatan Harapan MP have replied so far, with the latter saying that he has "no comment" at this juncture as MPs are yet to have an engagement session with the Home Ministry on the matter.
Adding further, Hassan said foundlings are victims of abandonment by their parents and it is the moral duty of the country and citizens to protect them.
"I will fight this. I will oppose the proposal to amend the Federal Constitution if (the government) proceeds to bring the part about foundlings to the Parliament.
"In this matter, I want the status quo to be kept, where the innocent children have the right to automatically become Malaysian citizens," Hassan said.
Unhappiness over amendments
The proposal in question is to amend the Second Schedule, Part III, Section 19(b) of the Federal Constitution which grants abandoned children citizenship by operation of law.
Last November, a government backbencher claimed that unhappiness over proposed constitutional amendments in granting citizenship could see some MPs voting against their party line if the government did not adopt a "decoupled" approach to the proposed amendments.
It is understood that this is because the bill included both positive and negative amendments, the former being amendments that aim to give Malaysian mothers equal rights to confer automatic citizenship on children born overseas.
Earlier last week, DAP lawmaker Ramkarpal Singh told the Dewan Rakyat that the proposed amendments, especially regarding foundlings, are both "illogical and unreasonable".
Calling it a "backward step", the Bukit Gelugor MP said the proposal should be withdrawn or postponed.
Pointing out that the proposal denied foundlings automatic citizenship and would subject them to an uncertain and protracted bureaucratic registration process, he said the move contradicted the Harapan-led coalition government’s aim to improve and reform laws.
Saifuddin hits back
However, Saifuddin has hit back at critics of the proposal, saying that the ministry will only respond to criticism based on facts and figures.
According to him, facts and figures showed that individuals who applied for citizenship will not face any problem in obtaining citizenship if they meet all the procedures set by the National Registration Department.
"For example, the number of cases of foundlings applying for citizenship from 2014 to 2023 was 142 applications. All were approved.
"Meanwhile, for cases of foundlings beyond the age of infancy, the ministry has approved over 98 percent of the total of 59,000 applications for the same period. There are 14,000 cases yet to be approved.
"These applications will be processed, and a decision will be made within nine months (before Dec 31, 2024).
"So, this fact contradicts the accusations that the government is denying the rights of foundlings," he said yesterday. - Mkini
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