The cabinet agreed that children born abroad automatically get citizenship
The government agreed to grant citizenship automatically through the force of law to children born abroad to Malaysian mothers married to non-citizen spouses.
KUALA LUMPUR: The government has agreed to grant citizenship automatically through the force of law to children born abroad to Malaysian mothers married to non-citizen spouses.
The decision was made at the Cabinet meeting yesterday after examining and agreeing to the proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution on Part I Section 1(1)(d) and Section 1(1)(e) and Part II, section 1(b) and Section 1( c) Second Schedule.
The matter was announced by the Minister of Home Affairs, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution and the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman in a joint statement yesterday.
Commenting on that, the minister said that the decision was made in line with the Unity Government's commitment to recognize the equality of women and men and eliminate discrimination against women in this country.
The government is also committed to overcoming the shortcomings of the citizenship provisions that have arisen in addition to wanting to resolve the backlog of cases for affected women who apply for citizenship for their children, through registration that takes too long and is unreasonable.
The decision thus provides a clear interpretation and avoids different interpretations from the court.
"The Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister's Department (BHEUU JPM) and the Ministry of the Interior (KDN) would like to thank the Unity Government led by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the Cabinet, for realizing the country's commitment to gender equality and fulfilling the rights against children.
"The proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution on this matter is to replace the word 'father' in Part I and Part II of the Second Schedule with the word 'at least one of his parents' to enable mothers of Malaysian citizens to have their fair rights according to the Federal Constitution.
"The next Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2023 is expected to be tabled in this Parliament session, after meeting the requirements of the law.
"The effect of today's decision (yesterday) is that a child born abroad before or after Malaysia Day where at least one of his parents is a Malaysian citizen, is entitled to citizenship by operation of law according to Clause (1) Article 14 Federal Constitution," said the minister.
At the same time, Saifuddin and Azalina said other amendments related to citizenship, especially Bahaigan III, will be studied in more detail by a committee established under the KDN.
He explained that the matter will be presented to the Cabinet after the proposed amendment is finalized taking into account the involvement of all stakeholders.
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