He called on the home minister to use his powers to grant citizenship to children born to Malaysian mothers, as provided under the law.
Hamid said fair citizenship laws and ensuring that officials comply with them would be paramount in remedying the cases of thousands of frustrated mothers.
“The problem we are facing now is not a security threat, it is the bureaucracy which hampers a frustrated mother and her child in getting their Malaysian citizenship. It is ridiculous to not allow women to confer citizenship to their newborns when sports personalities are getting citizenship.
“I urge the minister to use his discretion on the basis of humanity and doing the right thing for children, rather than leaving them in limbo,” he told a forum hosted by Sinar Harian.
The remark about a “security threat” was reportedly made by deputy home minister Ismail Mohamed Said in Parliament in December 2020, in explaining why mothers are not allowed to provide citizenship to their children.
Hamid added he had only served as home minister for a year (2008-2009) and could not bring meaningful change.
“The disconnect has to do with history. We seem to not have the political will to change and move with the times … and we keep it there, hoping it will change,” he said.
Another panellist, Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto said the opposition was keen on moving a bill to amend the Federal Constitution to allow children to derive citizenship through their mothers.
She said the law could be changed, but the willingness of registration officers remained doubtful. “Even though you have laws in place in this country, its implementation is slow. There is no morality among (JPN) officers in doing things right,” she said.
Kasthuri also questioned how foreign video bloggers, football players and spouses of VIPs continued to receive citizenship when more deserving people have not.
Family Frontiers president Suri Kempe said there was some hope in 2010 when the then home minister Hishammuddin Hussein vowed to make administrative amendments to make it easier for mothers, but it never panned out.
Rachel Ng, an affected mother, said she was told in London that it would take two years to register her child, while back in Malaysia she was told it would take six years.
“The fear of frustration lingers. We can’t make plans, we don’t know what to do. It is just a fog before us. We have also been hit by hate comments online. Many people think we want dual citizenships, we don’t,” the single mother said.