By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, March 26: Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) is concerned that the proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution addressing automatic citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers is not retrospective.
In a press release issued today, PBK president Voon Lee Shan said it will prevent children born to Malaysian mothers abroad from obtaining citizenship.
He said that Clause 12(1), relating to children born to Malaysian mothers abroad, does not have a retrospective effect and should be removed.
“Clause 12(1) of the Bill does not have a retrospective effect. The Bill was caused by the outcry of mothers whose children were born abroad but are stateless as they could not be recognised as Malaysians.
“As it is at the moment, existing children born to Malaysian mothers overseas will still have to apply for citizenship through registration, subject to the discretion of the home minister. Clause 12(1) does not help them to overcome their problems.
“There could be that their children will never get Malaysian citizenship,” he said.
He added that the law should not inconvenience Malaysian citizens seeking greener pastures by making it difficult for their children born overseas.
Yesterday (March 25), Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that the constitutional amendment to allow children born overseas to Malaysian mothers with foreign spouses to be granted automatic Malaysian citizenship will not be retrospective.
With the amendment, a Malaysian mother who wants her newborn children to be awarded Malaysian citizenship must register the child’s birth at the embassy or consulate within one year of the birth.
In a news report by MalayMail, human rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) adviser N Surendran said that the new amendments would not affect the citizenship status of children who were born prior to the Act coming into effect, which would result in the existing children born to Malaysian mothers overseas not receiving the benefit of the new amendment.
Currently, the Federal Constitution’s Second Schedule’s Part II’s Section 1(b) and Section 1(c) contain the word ‘father’ only, which means that only children born overseas to Malaysian fathers are entitled to automatic Malaysian citizenship.
The Bill proposed to replace the words ‘whose father’ with the words ‘of whose parents one at least’ in Section 1(b) and Section 1(c), which would enable children born overseas to Malaysian mothers also to be entitled to automatic Malaysian citizenship. — DayakDaily
