LFL blasts Yeoh's 'tone-deaf' praise for Saifuddin
Published: Oct 12, 2025 9:51 AM
Updated: 2:46 PM
Summary
- Zaid Malek slams Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh’s “shocking and embarrassing” praise for Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail for being better than his predecessors in tackling citizenship and statelessness issues.
- The LFL executive director says netizens were right to bring back Yeoh’s comments while in opposition, where she criticised the government for giving preferential treatment to footballers over stateless individuals.
Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) has taken aim at Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh for praising Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, whom she described as being better than his predecessors in tackling citizenship and statelessness issues.
LFL executive director Zaid Malek called Yeoh’s remarks “shocking and embarrassing,” saying they come at a time when Malaysia is embroiled in an international scandal exposing unjust and preferential treatment by the Home Ministry and the National Registration Department (NRD) in handling such cases.
“This tone-deaf statement does nothing to assuage public discontent and anger against the government over the granting of citizenship to the seven football players with heritage claims, found by the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) to be false,” Zaid said in a statement.
He noted that netizens were right to bring back Yeoh’s own 2022 comments - made while she was in opposition - criticising the then government for giving preferential treatment to footballers over stateless individuals.
Zaid (above) said the same double standards are now evident under the current Madani administration, of which Yeoh is part.
“Failure to address this clearly, and opting instead to sing praises to Madani and Saifuddin, shows how Yeoh and her cabinet colleagues have put aside principles for political expediency.
Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh
“In other words, it is blatantly clear they used groups like the stateless as props for political mileage when in opposition for political gain. Now in government, Yeoh brazenly sings a different tune,” he said.
‘Audacious’ Yeoh
Zaid also criticised what he described as Yeoh’s “audacity” in lauding the citizenship amendments as measures that “empower Malaysian mothers”.
“In fact, that amendment was a fraud upon Malaysian mothers who were denied citizenship for their children on the grounds that they were born abroad. This is because the amendments deliberately left out children born prior to the passing of the amendments.
“The amendment was useless to the mothers with the existing children who had campaigned so hard for a change in the law. It is shameful and dishonest for Yeoh to laud those amendments,” he added.
Zaid called it outrageous for Yeoh to praise Saifuddin’s “compassion and efficiency” on citizenship issues, noting that under his watch, the Home Ministry pushed regressive constitutional amendments that would have worsened statelessness in Malaysia.
“He tried to remove Section 1(e), Part II, Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution, which was the clause that enabled stateless Malaysians to get citizenship as of right.
“The amendments were only abandoned after fierce opposition by civil society and the public. Yeoh simply pretends none of this ever happened, in her zeal to defend the Madani government and Saifuddin,” he added.
Zaid said Yeoh also praised Saifuddin for purportedly clearing 49,000 in backlog citizenship applications, but stopped short of saying how many qualified stateless persons still remain without citizenship.
‘Audacious’ Yeoh
Zaid also criticised what he described as Yeoh’s “audacity” in lauding the citizenship amendments as measures that “empower Malaysian mothers”.
“In fact, that amendment was a fraud upon Malaysian mothers who were denied citizenship for their children on the grounds that they were born abroad. This is because the amendments deliberately left out children born prior to the passing of the amendments.
“The amendment was useless to the mothers with the existing children who had campaigned so hard for a change in the law. It is shameful and dishonest for Yeoh to laud those amendments,” he added.
Zaid called it outrageous for Yeoh to praise Saifuddin’s “compassion and efficiency” on citizenship issues, noting that under his watch, the Home Ministry pushed regressive constitutional amendments that would have worsened statelessness in Malaysia.
“He tried to remove Section 1(e), Part II, Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution, which was the clause that enabled stateless Malaysians to get citizenship as of right.
“The amendments were only abandoned after fierce opposition by civil society and the public. Yeoh simply pretends none of this ever happened, in her zeal to defend the Madani government and Saifuddin,” he added.
Zaid said Yeoh also praised Saifuddin for purportedly clearing 49,000 in backlog citizenship applications, but stopped short of saying how many qualified stateless persons still remain without citizenship.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail
“The number of backlog applications cleared does not reflect the large numbers of desperate people out there who remain stateless, including thousands of school-going children.
“Why has the standard operating procedure for NRD not been amended or made consistent with the Constitution and the landmark judgments of former chief justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat on citizenship? As a result, new cases of statelessness are being created even as Yeoh claims the backlog is being cleared.
“It is important to remember that many of those who became stateless did so due to the failure of the NRD and the Home Ministry to recognise their Malaysian citizenship under the constitution. In other words, citing the number of cleared backlogs is meaningless.
“The only ‘compassion’ and ‘efficiency’, as claimed by Yeoh, that the public can see by Saifuddin seems to be reserved for the seven football players,” he added.
“Why has the standard operating procedure for NRD not been amended or made consistent with the Constitution and the landmark judgments of former chief justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat on citizenship? As a result, new cases of statelessness are being created even as Yeoh claims the backlog is being cleared.
“It is important to remember that many of those who became stateless did so due to the failure of the NRD and the Home Ministry to recognise their Malaysian citizenship under the constitution. In other words, citing the number of cleared backlogs is meaningless.
“The only ‘compassion’ and ‘efficiency’, as claimed by Yeoh, that the public can see by Saifuddin seems to be reserved for the seven football players,” he added.
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