Deputy Home Minister Azis Jamman said the law was clear that a child followed the citizenship of his or her birth mother, and reiterated that a Malaysian marriage certificate must be produced to prove this.
He came under attack from several ruling party MPs over his remarks yesterday that parents who did not register their marriages were to blame for the existence of stateless children and that it was for them to solve it, not the government.
Azis (Warisan-Sepanggar) had told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday that being born in Malaysia does not automatically guarantee the person citizenship.
“However, if the parents of these (stateless) children register their marriages late – after the children are born – then an application for the citizenship of these kids can be made under Article 15A.”
Charles Santiago (PH-Klang) pointed out today that the constitution stated that as long as one of the parents of the child was Malaysian, the child was automatically a Malaysian citizen.
The DAP MP told Azis that stateless children faced an array of issues including mental health issues as they were teased and jeered at in school – if they could even make it to school.
When Azis said the law was clear that a child followed the citizenship of his or her birth mother, Santiago asked why citizenship applications of children with a local mother were still rejected by the home ministry, often with no reasons given for the rejection and no effort to tell them how to rectify it.
“This issue is an unfortunate one as it was inherited from the previous Barisan Nasional government,” he added. “If you don’t tell them what (documents) to submit, how would they know what is lacking?”
Kasthuri Patho (PH-Batu Kawan) proposed a new key performance indicator (KPI) for home ministry officials to quicken approvals of citizenship applications, saying it now took up to 10 years or more.
“The standard operating procedure (SOP) for officers to use is different,” she added, claiming citizenship applications were approved much quicker in Perak but that in the federal territories it was tougher.
“So, if the KDN (home ministry) sets targets (a certain number of citizenship applications) for their officials and this is not followed, they can do an internal investigation to find out if applications are being delayed.”
MPs then proposed a revamp of the DNA tests used as supporting evidence in applying for citizenship. One asked if DNA tests to show a parent was a local could be used to give the child automatic citizenship.
To this, Azis said there was a need for concrete proof before an application could be considered. He said if DNA tests were made as the sole proof required, a constitutional amendment would be needed.
He said his ministry would discuss this and leave it to the Cabinet to decide later.
But MPs were not happy with this reply, insisting that if one parent was a Malaysian it was enough. Santiago, in particular, said the issue was why approving a citizenship application took several years even though they were born in Malaysia.
Ngeh Koo Ham (PH-Beruas) said there was no need for an amendment to the current law as the home minister had the leeway to grant citizenship.
Earlier today, Lawyers for Liberty adviser N Surendran was quoted as saying the marital status of parents was irrelevant, calling Azis’ remarks as “irresponsible” and “contrary to the Federal Constitution”.
“Irrespective of the mother being a non-citizen and the marriage being unregistered, the child is automatically entitled to Malaysian citizenship as long as the father is a citizen,” he said.
To Azis’ statement that if parents registered their marriages only after the children were born, an application for citizenship could be made under Article 15A, Surendran said this was “of no use”.
He added that applications under Article 15A took several years to process and frequently resulted in repeated rejection while the stateless child remained in limbo.
“The Pakatan Harapan government’s answer in Parliament yesterday that the children can apply under Article 15A was the standard response given by the old Barisan Nasional regime,” Surendran said.
“It is a transparent delaying tactic to deny citizenship to desperate stateless children.”