The Foreign Spouses Support Group has also urged the government to expedite the due process to reunite families that are separated by physical borders and by citizenships too.

The group’s co-founder Bina Ramanand said that although it was “amazing” that deputy federal territories minister Edmund Santhara was allowed to be with his family in New Zealand, she wished the same could be said for other such families.

“Non-citizen spouses and children have been separated from their Malaysian families for months on end, despite numerous appeals to the Immigration Department,” she said, urging the government to revisit its due process so that families are not separated any longer.

“Foreign spouses living in Malaysia while working remotely for multinational companies are not only being denied long-term social visit passes, they are also being asked to leave the country as well.”

“Don’t these families have the right to live together in Malaysia? We call on the prime minister to treat regular citizens as he would those in power,” Bina added.

On Feb 28, former prime minister Najib Razak had revealed that deputy federal territories minister Edmund Santhara has been in New Zealand for nearly three months now.

The Segamat MP had flown to New Zealand on Dec 23 and had yet to return.

Yesterday, Santhara clarified that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had approved his 55-day leave to be in New Zealand with his family, partly because his wife was ill.

Other reports have claimed that his family were permanent residents there, while his children studied in Auckland. It has also been reported that the family had sought New Zealand citizenship 10 years ago and had wanted to buy land in a “sensitive” area, but that the application was not approved.

Umno Supreme Council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi today questioned why a deputy minister was allowed leave to be a responsible parent when people are not allowed to even cross district or state borders to be with their families.