Saifuddin said according to the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957, anyone who is aware of the birth of a child must immediately register it, with the date of discovery considered as their date of birth.
“If we know the law requires it, who should we report to? The police. Then, take them to the hospital. Because they were found, they are sent to the social welfare department,” he told reporters after an event today.
“To obtain citizenship legally, they must then provide a police report, hospital report, and a report from the social welfare department.”
Saifuddin was asked to comment on criticism from an NGO on the constitutional amendments for citizenship that may “block the pathway to citizenship” for stateless children and foundlings.
He has been facing pushback after the government last year proposed eight amendments to citizenship provisions in the Federal Constitution, which included the granting of citizenship to stateless children and foundlings.
The amendment in question aims to alter the Second Schedule, Part II, Section 1(e) of the constitution, which currently ensures citizenship for every stateless person born in Malaysia by operation of law.
As for children who are no longer infants despite being foundlings, Saifuddin said they can still apply for citizenship under Section 15A of the Federal Constitution.
This section covers various situations, including children born out of wedlock, adopted children, and those originally found abandoned but whose age has exceeded that of a baby, he said.
“So do they all get citizenship? Yes. The door is not closed,” he said.
Saifuddin said there had been instances where parents, upon finding abandoned children or foundlings, obtained fake birth certificates, sometimes with the involvement of syndicates.
“Cases like these go undetected up to 12 years, which coincides with the time the child needs to obtain a MyKad. When they produce the fake birth certificate at the time, the child’s details are not found in the system. This is what has been happening,” he said.
Saifuddin also said his ministry understands challenges in cases involving baby hatch facilities or children born at government hospitals to a couple, whereby one of them is a foreigner and they are not legally married.
Two Pakatan Harapan backbenchers had also criticised the amendments affecting the fate of foundlings.
Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim from PKR said Putrajaya had no reason to amend the provision that grants citizenship to abandoned children.
He said the country has a moral duty to protect foundlings as they were victims of parental neglect and vowed to oppose the amendments when it is tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.
Meanwhile, Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh from DAP said it was “illogical and unreasonable” to force foundlings into a lengthy and uncertain bureaucratic registration process.
We are live on Telegram, subscribe here for breaking news and the latest announcements.