SHOCK, grief and disbelief were some of the emotions that Malaysian mothers to overseas born children felt when the Court of Appeal overturned a landmark High Court decision granting citizenship to their children.

For many of these women and children, it has been years, some even decades, of fight for equal rights.

Those who spoke to The Malaysian Insight said, while it was disheartening to see the court rule against them, this is not the end of the road.

Esther Teo, 35, said she could not contain her emotions when she heard the judgment and just started crying.

“Last week I was totally shattered and now have to slowly come back again,” Teo said.

“I have been crying since Friday and I was hiding all the time. I am quite active on social media advocating this issue, (but after the court’s decision) the hate comments were overwhelming.”

Teo said she had received messages branding her “gatal” for having married a foreigner.

She said other hurtful comments included: “Which ‘mat salleh’ knocked you up and dumped you?”

Teo had tried applying for citizenship for her oldest daughter at the Malaysian Embassy in Frankfurt, Germany in 2015 but was told she had to wait for two years.

This attempt was under article 15(2), a constitutional provision that states that any person under the age of 21 with one Malaysian parent can be registered as a citizen upon application to the government.

When she tried again recently, the section of article 14 under which she applied states that a person is a citizen by operation of law if he or she was born outside Malaysia with his or her father a Malaysian citizen.

In practice, the government has chosen to take “father” literally.

Last September, Kuala Lumpur High Court disagreed with this practice, ruling that constitutional provisions on citizenship rights must be read together with provisions against gender discrimination.

On this basis, High Court judge Akhtar Tahir decided that the word “father” must be read to include mothers and that their children are entitled to citizenship by operation of law.

This judgement was subsequently reversed in a 2-1 decision by the Court of Appeal.

In Putrajaya, Justice Kamaludin Md Said, in his judgement, said the word “father” in section 1(b) of Part II of the second schedule of the Federal Constitution refers to father only and is not intended to include the mother.

This means it precluded Malaysian mothers married to a non-Malaysian citizen from passing on their citizenship status to their children born outside Malaysia.

However, Justice S. Nantha Balan, who gave the dissenting judgement, said there is a plain and apparent conflict between Article 8(2) and Article 14(1)(b), and its related provisions of the Federal Constitution, which implies that the bloodline of the mother is inferior to the bloodline of the father.

He also added: “It is illogical, perverse and degrading to the dignity of Malaysian women”.

Teo, who was present at the court with her daughter, said she didn’t know how to explain the decision to her child.

“After the verdict I was sobbing and my daughter asked: ‘Can I get my Malaysian passport yet?’

“I told her she has to wait a little longer. I don’t know how to discuss the whole process with her.”

With the reversal of the High Court decision, all applications made under article 15(2) are now frozen. To make matters worse, any application under article 14 will not be processed.

According to Hansard, in 2021, no application made under article 14 was successful.

In 2020, only three were approved, eight in 2019, two in 2018, eight in 2017 and five in 2016.

Most successful applications were made Hishammuddin Hussein was home minister from 2010 to 2012.

In 2010, 249 applications were approved, a further 384 in 2011 and 303 in 2012.

“For us now, all the doors are closed. I don’t see my way out currently, we are left in limbo. This is really a bad situation for us,” Teo said.

Meanwhile, Rachel Ng, 42, said she felt hollow when she heard the verdict, though she somehow expected it.

“I thought I would be angry, but I expected the result. I did not feel good about the fact that the verdict was delayed and the court called for more submissions.

“For me it’s super simple and super clear, I saw this as an opportunity for the government to further argue its case.”

Ng too was subjected to nasty comments online.

“I’m a single mother, many were quick to judge that I’m fighting for citizenship because my husband ditched me, otherwise I wouldn’t. They think I’m licking my wounds and begging for citizenship.

“They didn’t even ask questions or try to understand what happened, what was my citizenship journey,” Ng said.

While she can withstand the nasty comments, Ng is worried about her son’s safety after pictures of him were posted online without protecting his identity.

Ng’s eight-year-old son was born in London. Following two previous miscarriages, Ng erred on the side of caution and did not fly home to give birth because she was afraid something untoward would happen.

She applied for citizenship for her son when he was 10 months old at the Malaysian High Commission in London, but he has still not received it.

Federal Court appeal

Family Frontiers president Suriani Kempe said the group will take the matter to Federal Court as they cannot wait around for lawmakers to amend the constitution.

“The chances of seeing an amendment pass in the next parliamentary session are slim,” Suriani said.

“I’m being a realist. We don’t have an option, the luxury of sitting and waiting for the government to get its act together to grant women equal rights. We need to proceed to the apex court.”

Speaking at the Wanita Barisan Nasional (BN) convention in Kuala Lumpur last week, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the coalition will resolve the issue after the next general election, promising it as part of the BN manifesto.

However, Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching said Zahid’s words that BN is “very concerned” about children born abroad to Malaysian mothers and that he will “whisper” to the prime minister was actually alarming.

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

She said Zahid’s promise was “laughable”.

Meanwhile, Suriani said the Court of Appeal decision was nothing short of gender discrimination.

“The High Court judgment offered us a glimmer of hope to provide a real remedy to the struggles Malaysian women are facing, and a gender-based discrimination that we have endured for more than 60 years.

“Yet this latest decision crushed that hope, at least for now.”

The treatment of the women also shows that the government doesn’t much care for women voters, she added.

Family Frontiers has 30 days to file an appeal.

The group is currently trying to raise funds to help with its legal and administrative fees.

It started crowdfunding in September last year and has so far raised RM83,000 out of its intended target of RM100,000. – August 18, 2022.