Family Frontiers president Suri Kempe said the process of amending the Federal Constitution may take a long time but she was satisfied that the government has signalled its intention to address the issue.
She urged the government to withdraw the appeal against the Sept 9 High Court ruling that the government must grant citizenship by operation of law to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers.
Home minister Hamzah Zainudin, in his previous statement, said his ministry would be consulting the Conference of Rulers over amending the Federal Constitution.
He said the home ministry was stuck between two differing court decisions on the same issue, including the recent one by the Kuala Lumpur High Court. He said the other court decision had previously ruled in the government’s favour, with an appeal filed by the plaintiff and the case set to be heard later this year.
Suri tweeted that Malaysian mothers and their children had suffered due to the injustice and discriminatory interpretation of the Constitution that had resulted in children born abroad to Malaysian women not being granted citizenship.
“This injustice doesn’t make legal, moral or economic sense in the 21st century. The High Court, 29,000 signatories of a petition, MPs from across party lines, ministers and even the Sultan of Johor agrees with us.
“Withdrawing the appeal against the High Court order sends a signal that the government will stand with Malaysian mothers and address the issue immediately,” she said.
Suri had said the Sept 9 High Court decision was a recognition of Malaysian women’s equality and a step forward towards a more egalitarian and fair Malaysia.
Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching said she disagreed with the home ministry’s decision to proceed with the KL High Court case in the Court of Appeal.
She said the ministry must follow the example of the law minister who decided not to file an appeal against the High Court’s decision on enforcing the law on Undi18, which gives the power to those aged 18 to vote and paves the way for automatic voter registration.
That way, problems faced by Malaysian women and their children born overseas can be resolved promptly, Teo added.
She also said 6,489 applications for citizenship under Article 15A were made in 2019 and 2020, but only 2,969 citizenship certificates were issued.
“The home ministry should examine the issue of citizenship as a whole so that the rights of both Malaysian men and women are upheld,” she said in a statement.