Ideas joins call to decouple proposed citizenship amendments

PETALING JAYA: Calls to decouple the proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution on citizenship have grown louder, with the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) joining in.

Ideas chief executive officer Tricia Yeoh said the government should separate the proposed package of amendments and proceed with the two that grant Malaysian mothers the equal right to confer automatic citizenship on their children born overseas.

She said more time should be allowed for MPs to debate on its contents before voting commences.

“Particularly disturbing is the repeated justification by the Home Ministry on the amendments.

“Using national security as a justification for these amendments is a red herring and clear effort to distract the public from the harm that will inevitably be inflicted on stateless children,” she said in a statement on Tuesday (March 19).

She said the ministry also did not provide data on the matter despite repeated calls by civil society organisations.

Yeoh highlighted the importance of having a clear pathway to citizenship, adding that it meant granting stateless persons a future where they can access public education, banking, healthcare services and employment.

“The proposed amendments will worsen the current situation, increasing the number of stateless children and creating new generations of stateless persons that are unable to access basic rights, impair their ability to earn a decent living, and increase their risk of exploitation and trafficking,” she said.

She said findings from a 2019 study by the Subang MP’s office showed an estimated annual loss or RM6bil due to the denial of citizenship to around 300,000 individuals born in Malaysia or to Malaysian parents.

“This calculation is based on the assumption that half of the stateless population is of working age, resulting in 150,000 individuals experiencing unequal job opportunities and achieving only half of the average annual productivity value of RM 81,039.

“The loss stems from the denial of equal job opportunities and productive contributions to the economy by stateless individuals,” she said.

Ideas founding president Tunku Zain al-’Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz described the amendments as reprehensible, adding that it was a direct assault on the Federal Constitution and an affront to Malaysia’s founding values.

“If these amendments are passed, Malaysia will be the only country in the world in a decade that actually takes away the protection and rights of children,” Tunku Zain said in the same statement.

On one side, the proposed amendments allow children born abroad to Malaysian mothers to obtain citizenship.

However, other proposed amendments include removing Sections 1(e) and 2(3) of the Second Schedule, Part II; removing the right of foundlings, including abandoned children to citizenship by operation of law under Section 19B of the Second Schedule in Part III; and removing the words “permanently resident” in Section 1(a) of the Second Schedule in Part II.