Buku Jalanan Chow Kit co-founder Siti Rahayu Baharin highlighted that the proposed amendments to Article 15A of the Federal Constitution lowers the age of citizenship applicants from below 21 to below 18.

“The problem is that the duration for processing is not stated (in the amendment).

“If there is a specified timeframe, it should be incorporated into the constitutional amendments rather than merely in the regulations, which can change if the government changes,” she told a press conference at the Parliament building.

Last week, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that citizenship applications will be able to learn about their application status within a year due to clearer standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place.

He said while the amendments to the Federal Constitution on citizenship had yet to be approved in Parliament, the SOPs have already been set out.

He said that, with the SOPs, the ministry is “bound” to provide a decision on such applications within a year.

Siti Rahayu, fondly known as Cikgu Rahayu, also criticised a proposed amendment to Article 26(2) of the Federal Constitution which allows the government to revoke the citizenship of foreign wives if the couple were to be divorced within two years of the wife obtaining citizenship (instead of two years of the date of the couple’s marriage as it is at present).

Siti Rahayu said the proposed amendment could put foreign wives at risk of becoming stateless as Malaysia does not recognise dual citizenship. She added that there is no explicit protection for these women.

She also said there is no basis for the government to pursue the amendment to Article 26(2) as there is no data to back the contention that it has been abused by couples to enter into a marriage of convenience to obtain citizenship.

“I hope the ministry proceeds with the amendments in a transparent manner as this affects the people and is not a political issue,” she added.