KUALA LUMPUR – Not hopeful that Putrajaya will decouple regressive elements in its citizenship bill, the Malaysian Citizenship Rights Alliance (MCRA) has made a counterproposal it wants the government to consider including as a compromise.
MCRA said its counterproposal sets out detailed recommendations for several legal and procedural improvements to the Home Ministry’s Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2024 on citizenship, which is currently listed for continued second reading during the ongoing Dewan Rakyat meeting that ends on July 18.
The proposals aim to protect the automatic right to citizenship of Malaysian children, while addressing concerns raised by the government on the granting of automatic citizenship.
“The improvements to the bill that are recommended in the counterproposal can be included into the bill either through motions to amend the bill, or by referring the bill to a select committee,” the group said in a statement.
It reiterated calls for the right of Malaysian mothers to confer citizenship on their overseas-born children to be made “retroactively applicable” in the government’s bill.
This right granted to Malaysian mothers should then be decoupled from “regressive amendments” that remove automatic citizenship rights for vulnerable individuals such as stateless indigenous people and their children, adopted children, children born out of wedlock and those affected by intergenerational statelessness, MCRA said.
The amendments that affect citizenship rights for vulnerable groups should be removed and sent for further consultation, it added.
“The negative consequences of the Bill have been repeatedly highlighted to the Home Minister, other ministers and members of parliament by many groups over the last 12 months, and especially in the lead up to the tabling of the Bill for First and Second Reading in March 2024.
“However, the Home Minister has taken no action in the intervening months between March and July 2024 to address these legitimate concerns. As far as MCRA is aware, the government intends to proceed with the tabling of the Bill as it currently stands.
“If the government is adamant about tabling the bill in its current form, it must take into consideration the concerns and recommendations in MCRA’s counterproposal to the bill.”
In its counter proposals, which MCRA said was developed together with lawyers, citizenship rights and child rights experts, the issues addressed are: children born to Malaysian permanent residents; the foreign spouse of a Malaysian man; reduced age limit for stateless applicants; elderly stateless persons in Sabah and Sarawak; and retroactivity for overseas-born children.
As an example of compromise, its proposal for children born to a Malaysian permanent resident (PR) is aimed at preventing statelessness, while balancing the government’s concerns about citizenship given to migrants.
On this, MCRA is suggesting the wording of Section 1(a) of the Second Schedule of Part II of the Federal Constitution states that one parent be “a person who was born in and is permanently resident in the Federation”, while the interpretation of a permanent resident be expanded to include persons who have “a long and close tie to the country, e.g. the indigenous communities.”
“This is a compromise to protect against intergenerational statelessness. Our recommendation above requires the PR holder to be born in Malaysia for their child to be a citizen by operation of law.
“We also propose that persons who are in the country for special or temporary purposes cannot be deemed to be ‘permanently’ resident, and therefore children of migrants would have no automatic right to citizenship.”
On its proposal for the foreign spouse of a Malaysian man, MCRA said while it agreed with the purpose of Article 26(2) to protect against marriages of convenience entered into solely for the purpose of gaining citizenship, the wife, whose Malaysian citizenship can be revoked within the period of two years from the marriage, should be protected from becoming stateless by adding a safeguards to take into account offspring from the marriage.
On reducing the age limit for stateless applicants; it is proposed the government’s special power to register children under the age of 21 as citizens be maintained as such, instead of the Home Ministry’s amendment bill which seeks to lower the age to 18.
MCRA said 21 years of age is consistent with other existing legislation and United Nations’ conventions protecting children’s rights.
On protecting elderly stateless persons in Sabah and Sarawak, MCRA said it agreed with the Home Ministry’s proposal to delete Article 16A which outlines conditions for residents of the two East Malaysian states to satisfy before they can be registered as citizens.
With the deletion, however, the alliance said there must be “a clear and automatic constitutional pathway” for indigenous communities in the two states to obtain citizenship.
“Provisions must be made…(and) it must be acknowledged that due to accessibility barriers, many from these communities are unable to access birth registration and citizenship,” MCRA said.
Lastly, on retroactivity for overseas-born children, the alliance said that if the right for Malaysian mothers to confer citizenship on their foreign-born children is only effective after the amendments come into force, “none of the existing cases will be solved” and children born before the passing of the bill will remain at risk of statelessness.
It suggested a “transitional provision” for citizenship by registration (non-automatic) limited to the second generation, meaning, the children of overseas-born children who intend to make Malaysia their home.
MCRA reiterated concerns about the harmful impact of statelessness on undocumented children, such as the risk of becoming human trafficking victims, as well as the socioeconomic impact of lack of access to education and legal employment, resulting in productivity loss to the country.
“The country’s main economic challenges – high debt, corruption, inflation, and unemployment – are not caused by stateless or undocumented people.
“In fact, there are economic justifications for granting rights to those who are stateless. Allowing them legal status and access to education, health and employment could help solve our fiscal issues.
“Education is a pathway to improved productivity, and ‘formal’ employment will lead to the payment of taxes,” MCRA said. – July 12, 2024
