JOHOR ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar has urged the federal government to abort its appeal against the recent high court decision allowing citizenship rights to children born overseas, regardless of whether the Malaysian parent is the father or mother.

He said that all children born to Malaysian parents abroad must be accorded the right to citizenship in this country.

“The sanctity of the court must be upheld. Why discriminate against Malaysian mothers with overseas-born children? This is a basic right of every child, irrespective of whether the Malaysian parent is the father or the mother.

“It doesn’t feel right that Malaysian fathers and mothers are viewed differently in the eyes of the law concerning their child’s citizenship. Are Malaysian mothers less Malaysian than Malaysian fathers?” Sultan Ibrahim said in a statement posted on his Facebook page today. 

On September 9, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled on the automatic granting of citizenship rights to children born abroad to Malaysian mothers married to foreigners.

High Court judge Akhtar Tahir, who made the decision in his judgment, said the word “father” in the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution must mean and include the mother.

However, Putrajaya filed an appeal on Monday (September 13) at the Court of Appeal against the high court’s landmark ruling.

Sultan Ibrahim said Putrajaya should not deny citizenship rights to those who are entitled, especially when the country was already plagued by loss of talented and qualified young people.

“This is the time to accept them and instil the Malaysian spirit in them, instead of rejecting and expelling them. A policy like this is not right.

“In the spirit of the ‘Malaysian Family’ pioneered by the Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the attorney-general should immediately withdraw the appeal against the court’s decision,” he said.

Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin had said that the acquisition of Malaysian citizenship for children under-21 born overseas to Malaysian mums with a non-citizen father is not automatic. 

He said that the consideration of applications for citizenship under Article 15 (2) of the Federal Constitution also takes into account the government’s policy of not recognising dual citizenship.

He added that each citizenship application received by the ministry will be carefully processed on a case-by-case basis to ensure that each application meets the conditions set out in Part III of the Federal Constitution, Citizenship Rules 1964. – September 18, 2021.