On Sept 9, judge Akhtar Tahir ruled that these children are entitled by operation of law to be citizens of Malaysia.

Lawyer Gurdial Singh said the application before the Court of Appeal will be heard on Dec 6.

“The interim stay is to stop the applicants (mothers) from executing the High Court order pending the stay application that will be heard on March 18 next year,” he told FMT.

On Monday, Akhtar dismissed the government’s application to stay the order pronounced in his (Sept 9) judgment.

The judge said the defendant’s (government) position was that an amendment to the Federal Constitution to grant mothers this right must first be approved by the Conference of Rulers.

“This presupposes that the amendment is necessary. However, there is no question of an amendment because the court has already decided that the mothers have this right under the Federal Constitution,” he said.

The applicants, an NGO and six mothers, last year filed the suit to get the court to declare several provisions – namely Article 14(1)(b) and Sections 1(b) and 1(c) under the Second Schedule of the Constitution – invalid because they were discriminatory to women.

They claimed that the constitution only allowed a father to pass his citizenship to his children born outside the federation, while a mother could not do so.

In his judgment, Akhtar said the word “father” in the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution must mean and include mothers.

Akhtar also made an order that all authorities must issue the relevant documents like identity cards to these children.