Citizenship amendments debate postponed again

PARLIAMENT | The debate and vote on proposed citizenship amendments in the Dewan Rakyat have been postponed again.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) M Kulasegaran told the Dewan Rakyat today that the second reading of the bill - which entails the policy stage debate - would be brought forward to the next Parliament meeting in October.

The bill would, among others, grant Malaysian women the right to pass down citizenship to their children born overseas.

However, activists have criticised the government for not making that right retroactive, meaning those mothers who have been actively campaigning to get their children citizenship would not benefit from the law.

These are among other issues with the bill, which activists argue could render more people stateless.

Lobby groups including the Malaysian Citizenship Rights Alliance (MCRA) are pushing counter-proposals for the government to consider.

There is also speculation of pushback from government MPs against the bill.

As the bill seeks to amend the Federal Constitution, the government would need the support of two-thirds of lawmakers to pass the amendments.

The bill was first supposed to be debated and voted on in March but the government at the time moved to end the Dewan Rakyat session just before the debate.

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had said then that MPs needed more time to debate the bill. - Mkini