Parliament to debate amendment to Federal Constitution to grant citizenship for kids born abroad to Malaysian mothers

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 18): The Home Ministry and Prime Minister’s Department are expected to present an amendment to the Federal Constitution, with regard to granting citizenship through the force of law to children born abroad by Malaysian mothers who marry non-citizen spouses.

A joint statement released on Friday (Feb 17) stated that the Cabinet meeting had examined and agreed with the proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution against Part I, Section 1(1)(d) and Section 1(1) (e), and Part II, Section 1(b) and Section 1(c), of the Second Schedule to that effect.

Further, the statement added that proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution to replace the word “his father” in Part I and Part II of the Second Schedule by the phrase “at least one of his parents” would allow Malaysian mothers to exercise their rights according to the Federal Constitution.

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2023 is expected to be presented in the current Parliament session after fulfilling the requirements of the law.

At the same time, another amendment related to citizenship, especially Part III, will be studied in more detail by the committee established under the Home Ministry, and will be presented to the Council of Ministers after the proposed amendment is concluded by taking into account the involvement of all parties interested.

This, the statement read, is in line with the unity government’s commitment to recognising the equality of women and men, eliminating discrimination against women in Malaysia, overcoming the weakness of the provisions of citizenship that arises, resolving the backlog of cases outstanding for affected women who applied for citizenship for their children and went through registration that took too long and was unreasonable, and giving a clear interpretation and avoiding different interpretations by the courts.

The impact of the decision is that children born abroad before or after Malaysia Day, with at least an eligible Malaysian citizen as one of the parents, obtain citizenship through the force of law according to Clause (1), Article 14 of the Federal Constitution.

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