KUALA LUMPUR: A non-government organisation has called on the Home Ministry to reconsider its plan to pursue three other constitutional amendments that will have an impact on stateless children and undocumented Malaysians.
The Malaysian Citizenship Rights Alliance (MCRA) made such a call following the announcement by the ministry today, which has agreed to drop two proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution pertaining to the citizenship of foundlings.
"MCRA welcomes the move by the cabinet to proceed with the tabling of amendments that will grant Malaysian mothers the equal right to confer citizenship to their overseas-born children.
"The decision to no longer amend these provisions will ensure that no child in Malaysia gets left behind, which is very much in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Madani values.
"We thank the government for responding to some of the concerns expressed by civil society, and we are grateful for the collective wise counsel of the Madani cabinet in holding true to the values of respect, trust and compassion.
"However, it appears that the ministry still intends to pursue three other constitutional amendments that will also have a negative impact on stateless children, undocumented Malaysians, including Orang Asli and Orang Asal, and foreign wives of Malaysian men," said MRCA today.
MRCA said the proposed amendments included Section 1(a) Part II of the Second Schedule in which the government intends to delete the words "permanently resident" in this section.
This, it said, will take away citizenship from children born to permanent residents who are stateless, thereby passing on statelessness to a second generation.
Another proposed amendment, said MRCA, is Article 26(2) as it relates to Article 15(1).
"(Via the proposed amendments) The government intends to replace the word "date of the marriage" with "date of obtaining citizenship".
"The government's proposal is to give itself the power to strip a (previously) non-citizen wife of her Malaysian citizenship if the marriage is dissolved within two years after she obtains her citizenship.
"Given that dual citizenship is not recognised, the effect of this proposed amendment will be to render this wife stateless."
The third proposed amendment is Articles 15A and 19(2), in which MRCA said the government intends to reduce the age limit for the purposes of obtaining citizenship from "21 years" to "18 years", which will have the effect of further limiting the legitimate pathways to citizenship, in particular stateless children, by shortening the time for process and appeals.
"Processing times for citizenship by registration typically take between three and six years per application, and each application is rejected at least once, and the individuals are required to resubmit."
Echoing the same sentiments was women's rights advocate, Ivy Josiah.
"I hope the government continue to listen and take action as there still remains three other damaging amendments," she said.
Earlier today, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the decision to drop the two proposed amendments was made after taking into consideration all inputs as well as after an intensive engagement session with all stakeholders.
The two proposed amendments that will be dropped are 19B Part III of the Second Schedule and Section 1(e) Part II of Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution.