Right move, but do more, says NGO on citizenship amendment drop

PETALING JAYA: The announcement that two controversial citizenship amendments would be dropped was welcomed by Voice of the Children president Sharmila Sekaran.

“All of us who have been working on this issue and the amendments welcome this news, and are thankful that our concerns have been heard,” she said.

She called for clearer and more transparent processes to enable foundlings and stateless children to gain access to citizenship without undue delay.

Despite the welcome, Sharmila said she was still concerned about three more proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution which the group deems regressive.

“We really hope that the government would not rush through the three other amendments,” she said.

This was echoed by Malaysian Citizenship Rights Alliance (MCRA), who expressed the same worries.

The controversial amendments include taking away automatic citizenship for children born from permanent residents under Section 1(a) Part II of the Second Schedule, and Article 15A, which reduces the age limit to obtain citizenship from 21 to 18 years old.

Also, another amendment to Article 26(2) allows the revoking of citizenship for foreign divorcees who had obtained citizenship by marriage within two years of obtaining citizenship.

This differed from the original section which stated that her citizenship would only be deprived if the foreign wife divorces within two years from her date of marriage.

In its statement on Friday (March 22) MCRA called on the government to consider the rationale by civil societies to drop or not rush the amendments through Parliament.

“Moreover, in states like Sabah, almost 30% of the population is undocumented or stateless, the solution does not lie in reducing or removing fundamental rights in the Federal Constitution.

“Any efforts to resolve serious issues of concern regarding migration through porous borders must be evidence-based, transparent and consultative,” said the statement.

Earlier on Friday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution announced dropping two proposed amendments to 19B and Section 1(e) Part 2 of Schedule 2 of the Federal Constitution.

These amendments would have deprived foundlings and stateless children of automatic citizenship and would see them needing to register for it instead.