The government, the home minister and the national registration department (JPN) director-general had applied for the stay of execution pending their appeal against the High Court decision to be heard in March.
Appellate judges Kamaludin Md Said, S Nantha Balan and See Mee Chun dismissed their application via a Zoom meeting today, the NGO Family Frontiers said.
It said this meant Malaysian mothers would be able to register their children for Malaysian citizenship, as per the High Court ruling.
The court will still hear the government’s appeal on March 23, together with another case involving a woman born overseas to a Malaysian mother.
In denying the government’s request for a stay of execution of the earlier High Court decision, the appellate judges said the matter concerns the rights of children.
“The Court of Appeal noted that this is not a stay concerning a monetary judgment or chattels and instead, involves the rights of children,” lawyers in the case told the media as the Zoom hearing was not open to the press.
The lawyers also said the judges felt the court should not deprive the respondents of the fruits of litigation.
Lawyers Gurdial Singh Nijar, Joshua Andran and Abraham Au represented the respondents, while senior federal counsel Liew Horng Bin appeared for the appellants.
Previously, the High Court held that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers who are married to foreigners are entitled by operation of law to be citizens of Malaysia.
Rights group Family Frontiers and the six mothers had 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 on grounds that they are discriminatory against women.
They claimed that the constitution only allows a father to pass his citizenship to his children born outside the federation, but a mother cannot do so.
“It is noted by the court that the mothers have highlighted in their affidavits the grievances they are facing for the children not being granted citizenship,” High Court judge Akhtar Tahir had said.
Lawyer Joshua Andran said he was encouraged by the appellate court’s decision which recognised the hardship of the children and families.
“We hope that they will soon be able to travel and be reunited with family members, be able to enrol in public schools, be able to access healthcare and other public facilities, not as foreigners, but as a Malaysian citizen. Something which they have been deprived of for years.”
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