BARISAN Nasional (BN) chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s pledge to list automatic citizenship for overseas-born children of Malaysian mothers in the coalition manifesto is laughable at best and extremely insensitive at worst, said Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching. 

“If Zahid holds any reverence to the plight of Malaysian mothers, he could have outrightly intervened when the government opposed the High Court’s ruling in favour of the mothers in the first place,” the former education minister said in a statement today. 

At the Wanita BN convention in Kuala Lumpur last week, Zahid, who is the Umno president, said BN, upon winning the general election, will resolve the issue of Malaysian mothers not being able to confer citizenship on their children born abroad, adding that he would “whisper” into the prime minister ears.

“If Zahid and Umno are serious about the reform, (then) Zahid does not need to ‘whisper’ to the prime minister, who is his vice-president in Umno, as if it is some sort of secret. 

“Zahid speaks as if he and Umno are in opposition, and he has no control and no influence over the government, in which Umno not only holds the position of prime minister but also those of 11 ministers,” Teo said today.

Teo also said that the plight of these Malaysian mothers should not be reduced to a soundbite for BN. 

“It is a disrespectful affront to the bureaucratic hoops that Malaysian mothers go through just for their children to stay with them in this country. 

“The travelling to the Immigration office, the burden of paperwork for temporary passes and the unexplainable disheartenment they felt when the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the government last month. 

“He (Zahid) says he cares, but where was he (during) those challenges?” 

Teo called for the issue of citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers to be introduced as the first item on the agenda for the next parliamentary sitting. 

“I see no reason why amendments to the Federal Constitution, for mothers to (confer) their citizenship on their children born overseas, cannot be put into the next parliamentary meeting. 

“And if Zahid would like to take it up a notch, his party should instruct its vice-president to call a special parliament sitting to amend the Federal Constitution.”  – August 17, 2022.