Home minister says in midst of briefing MPs on latest amendment to citizenship law, after concerns raised
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail speaks to the media after officiating the PDRM Special Dialogue 2024 in Kuala Lumpur March 11, 2024. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon
Monday, 11 Mar 2024 11:35 AM MYT
KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — In the face of opposition from civil societies and some MPs, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail today said that he is currently briefing federal lawmakers on the proposed amendments to Malaysia’s citizenship laws, and is confident of canvassing enough support for their passage through Parliament.
Article 15A of the Federal Constitution currently provides the government special powers to register persons under 21 years of age as citizens while Section 19B from part three of the Second Schedule obliges the government to confer citizenship automatically to foundlings.
However, the proposed amendments by the government would change the entitlement to a process of registration with an age limit, which is also subject to the approval of the home minister.
“I am presently engaged in a series of briefings to MPs, and I am confident that if I was given a chance to explain like this, like how I am explaining to reporters and reporters help write (the explanation), I feel, I am confident that this amendment can get the support it needs,” he told a press conference today, after officiating the PDRM Special Dialogue 2024 here.
When proposing the amendments last October, the government said it would address problems plaguing foreign-born children of Malaysian women with non-citizen husbands, who do not automatically gain citizenship unlike the offspring of Malaysian men in similar circumstances.
Civil society groups have objected to the proposed amendments that would also affect children born out of wedlock to Malaysian men, stateless children adopted by Malaysian parents, foundlings or children who were abandoned (including those abandoned upon birth), and families with generations of stateless children born in Malaysia.
They said the proposed citizenship amendments that remove safeguards from becoming stateless would potentially keep vulnerable children in a cycle of statelessness.
Several MPs, notably Pasir Gudang MP, Hassan Abdul Karim and Ramkarpal Singh had also voiced their concerns over the proposed amendments.
MORE TO COME
Monday, 11 Mar 2024 11:35 AM MYT
KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — In the face of opposition from civil societies and some MPs, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail today said that he is currently briefing federal lawmakers on the proposed amendments to Malaysia’s citizenship laws, and is confident of canvassing enough support for their passage through Parliament.
Article 15A of the Federal Constitution currently provides the government special powers to register persons under 21 years of age as citizens while Section 19B from part three of the Second Schedule obliges the government to confer citizenship automatically to foundlings.
However, the proposed amendments by the government would change the entitlement to a process of registration with an age limit, which is also subject to the approval of the home minister.
“I am presently engaged in a series of briefings to MPs, and I am confident that if I was given a chance to explain like this, like how I am explaining to reporters and reporters help write (the explanation), I feel, I am confident that this amendment can get the support it needs,” he told a press conference today, after officiating the PDRM Special Dialogue 2024 here.
When proposing the amendments last October, the government said it would address problems plaguing foreign-born children of Malaysian women with non-citizen husbands, who do not automatically gain citizenship unlike the offspring of Malaysian men in similar circumstances.
Civil society groups have objected to the proposed amendments that would also affect children born out of wedlock to Malaysian men, stateless children adopted by Malaysian parents, foundlings or children who were abandoned (including those abandoned upon birth), and families with generations of stateless children born in Malaysia.
They said the proposed citizenship amendments that remove safeguards from becoming stateless would potentially keep vulnerable children in a cycle of statelessness.
Several MPs, notably Pasir Gudang MP, Hassan Abdul Karim and Ramkarpal Singh had also voiced their concerns over the proposed amendments.
MORE TO COME
One step forward, two-steps backwards actions.
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