IT is high time Putrajaya gives importance to the issue of citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian women with foreign spouses, said Family Support & Welfare Selangor & Kuala Lumpur (Family Frontiers). 

This was the group’s lead coordinator Bina Ramanand’s reaction to Law and Institutional Reform Minister Azalina Othman Said’s announcement that a proposal to amend the Federal Constitution’s citizenship rules will soon be tabled to the cabinet.

“It is time to end the struggles and discrimination faced by Malaysian mothers,” Bina told The Malaysian Insight. 

“We welcome the initiative taken by Azalina and Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution to prioritise the issue of citizenship of overseas born children of Malaysian women which is long overdue. 

“We appreciate the positive steps taken and it is time to end the struggles of Malaysian mothers, who have endured hardship for the last 60 years arising from this discrimination against women. We look forward to the timeline,” she added. 

Azalina had announced yesterday that she and Saifuddin will table a joint ministerial memorandum to the cabinet to propose amending part II of the second schedule of the Federal Constitution, relating to the issue of citizenship. 

While Azalina did not elaborate on the nature of the amendment that would be proposed, she did tag civil society group Family Frontiers in the announcement. 

Part II of the second schedule of the Federal Constitution lays out the rules by which a person born after Malaysia Day can become a citizen of Malaysia. 

Family Frontiers is currently involved in a suit centred on certain provisions of the schedule that allows Malaysian fathers (but not Malaysian mothers) to automatically confer Malaysian citizenship on their overseas-born children. 

The group wants mothers to have the same right to confer their citizenship on their children. 

Last month, Saifuddin pledged to prioritise the issue of citizenship of children born overseas to Malaysian mothers. 

The election manifestos of Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional in the general election had promised constitutional amendments that would give both fathers and mothers the right to confer citizenship to their children. 

Last year, the Federal Court granted leave for seven women and a civil society group to proceed with their legal challenge on automatic citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers with foreign spouses. – January 5, 2023.