Speaking at a gathering of mothers calling for citizenship reform today, Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto pointed out the irony of Wanita MCA chief Heng Seai Kie saying the constitutional reform was included in BN’s manifesto for the next general election.
Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh told FMT that BN was already part of the current government and was in a position to bring about the reforms.
In a tweet shortly afterwards, she said: “Eh, you have power now. If you don’t do it now, why would anyone believe you would do it next year?”
The general election must be held by mid-September 2023 at the latest, but the government has faced pressure from Umno to call for elections earlier.
Kasthuri, referring to Heng’s promise about the manifesto, said: “Who is in the government and who is in the opposition?
“It is the government’s duty to bring this issue to Cabinet and pressure the prime minister for the constitutional amendment to be tabled at the parliamentary sitting in October,” she said at the gathering, held by family support group Family Frontiers.
Heng, speaking at the same event, said BN had already agreed at its convention two weeks ago to include the legal reform in its manifesto.
However, Yeoh said later that having the promise in the BN manifesto for the next election “just does not make sense”. She said a manifesto was a promise to do something when a party obtained power but BN was already part of the current government.
More than 80 people, including supporters and families affected by the citizenship law, were at the gathering, called Merdeka for Malaysian Mothers.
It was also attended by Muda secretary-general Amira Aisya Abd Aziz, Bakri MP Yeo Bee Yin, and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok.
Others present included Wanita PKR chief Fadhlina Sidek, Wanita Pakatan Harapan (PH) deputy chief Raj Munni Sabu and Kinrara assemblyman Ng Sze Han.
Raj Munni, in her speech, also said that PH will be including the constitutional reform in its GE15 manifesto.
The gathering was organised in support of Malaysian women whose overseas-born children are barred from automatic citizenship by a constitutional provision allowing citizenship only through fathers.
Family Frontiers has filed an application seeking leave of the Federal Court to challenge an appeal court decision upholding the current constitutional provision. The group said that since the appeal court ruling they had met government officials in hopes of resolving the matter through a constitutional amendment.
The Court of Appeal ruling earlier this month overturned a landmark High Court ruling in 2021 that the word “father” in a constitutional provision could be construed to mean “mothers” or “parents”, thereby allowing citizenship by operation of law to their children born abroad.