The Malaysian government has rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that will require such children to use for citizenship, Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution said at a briefing on Friday. The Ministry of Interior initially planned to present a bill on this matter to parliament after obtaining government consent.
The decision was taken amid plans by civil society groups reminiscent of Undi18 to protest against the proposal on Monday outside parliament.
Malaysia will change its citizenship law and provides equal rights to children born abroad
Malaysia will change its citizenship law and provides equal rights to children born abroad
“These amendments go beyond partisan politics as they directly impact Malaysia’s stateless children and their future,” Undi18 said ahead of Saifuddin’s briefing. It could be the second street protest against the federal government in a month.
Saifuddin had previously warned that Malaysia’s citizenship laws were vulnerable to abuse by the three.5 million foreigners living within the country. On March 11, he told parliament that there have been cases of foreigners refusing to pay hospital fees after giving birth and abandoning their children, knowing that they might mechanically receive citizenship.
Critics didn’t like this reasoning. Malaysia’s human rights commissioner, Ragunath Kesavan, said last week that the planned amendments were “abhorrent and regressive” and that the federal government had not provided any justification for them during its meetings.
Saifuddin said on Friday that other proposed amendments to Malaysia’s citizenship law, reminiscent of allowing automatic citizenship to be granted to children born abroad to Malaysian moms – a right that already exists for Malaysian fathers – have been given the green light by the federal government. He added that he would hold an engagement session with backbenchers on Monday on this regard.
