Institutional reform watchdog, Projek Sama has urged both the government and opposition to allow conscience vote on the proposed constitutional amendments over citizenship.
In a statement today, the group also reminisced about the late Karpal Singh, saying he was a principled MP whom Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim respected and allowing a conscience vote would make him proud.
"While the government said it intends to deliver on its promise to grant equal rights to Malaysian mothers to confer citizenship to their overseas-born children, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail decided to bundle it together with regressive amendments.
"Commendably, Karpal’s son Ramkarpal Singh, former deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, has been consistent in opposing the regressive amendments, in line with Pakatan Harapan’s commitment to human rights.
"As such, we hope that another of Karpal sons, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo, can persuade the cabinet to see the wisdom in allowing government MPs – including ministers and deputy ministers - to vote based on their conscience," said the group.
Despite massive criticisms against the proposed amendments, Saifuddin doubled down on laws related to foundlings saying they are needed to prevent migrants from abusing existing legislation.
However, critics said the laws mentioned by Saifuddin to justify his proposal, particularly Section 19B, Part III of the Second Schedule, under the Federal Constitution, do not and should not apply to migrant babies “abandoned” in hospitals.
Miffed by the government’s insistence, former Malaysian Bar president Ambiga Sreenevasan has challenged Harapan to let their lawmakers vote freely on the contentious citizenship amendments being proposed by the government.
"I dare Harapan to lift the whip and allow the MPs to vote according to their conscience on this ridiculous amendment.
"This is an important principle worth fighting for. Not even the BN or Perikatan Nasional governments did this. Madani, this is a disgrace!" she was reported as saying.
Dont rush
On that note, Projek Sama said the government should not be hasty in pushing the proposed amendments given the fact that no white paper has been presented to back the statistics given by the home minister.
Notably, it added, the proposed amendments are not part of the election manifesto made by any of the parties in the coalition government.
"There is no political or moral basis for the government parties to impose their current position on their parliamentarians when the issues are under-deliberated.
"Therefore, removing the whip and allowing MPs to vote based on their conscience is the best solution to balance the commitments of governments and its MPs," it said.
It suggested the government take a leaf from how governments in the United Kingdom and other established parliamentary democracies deal with political hot potatoes.
“Using this method, the government can proceed to table the proposed amendments but if it fails to get passed, the administration will remain intact.” - Mkini
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