Children under 18 born to Malaysian mothers overseas can now apply for citizenship under Article 15(2) of the Federal Constitution, following a settlement in an appeal at the Federal Court by an NGO and a group of six Malaysian mothers.
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NewsTranscript
00:00This is a great gift to women, two days after International Women's Day, because this is
00:13in a sense a historic judgement, conclusion, to correct decades-long discrimination against
00:20women.
00:21And it was triggered by the amendment that the government made in 2001, where they abolished
00:29under an amendment to the federal constitution, they abolished discrimination on the basis
00:40of gender.
00:41And so that is what prompted us to then bring this case to say that very clearly, Malaysian
00:48mothers whose children are born overseas, married to non-Malaysians, that injustice
00:55had to be corrected.
00:57So it has been a long journey, it has been taken, just this particular journey has been
01:01five years.
01:02You know, we succeeded in the High Court, and then the decision was overturned, 2-1
01:10decision, overturned by the Court of Appeal, and that is what we were appealing against
01:14today.
01:15So finally, the Attorney General's Chamber has consented to the position that these children
01:24are entitled to citizenship under a particular provision of the federal constitution.
01:31So this actually makes it very complete, because after we initiated this action, the government
01:40brought in the Amendment Act to say that from the day the Amendment Act was put in place,
01:46children under 18 years are entitled to citizenship, but it did not cover the period before that.
01:51So this case is about the period before that, because that Amendment Act was made prospective,
01:57not retrospective.
01:59So now, for children born before the Pindahan, before the Amendment Act, are also now entitled
02:07to citizenship, and will be granted citizenship.
02:12So that basically sets aside the Court of Appeal order, because the Court of Appeal
02:15said no, cannot be granted.
02:18Now this consent order supersedes that, and therefore we have a complete non-gender discrimination
02:25with regard to these children before the amendment, and after the amendment.
02:30And we have one of them is here, for example, Edwin's son, alright, and so he's a, all the
02:37while would not have been a citizen, but today he's a proud citizen of Malaysia.
02:40We have seen our applications come through, and we are very thankful for the government
02:46for processing and for approving the applications that have come through, but we have also seen
02:51rejected applications, and this is why today's day in court really matters, because this
02:57will bring meaning to that, and I leave it to the Prof for that.
03:02So, the government actually, we must thank the government, because finally the government
03:07has recognised that, you know, to spell out, to operationalise the concept of a Medani
03:13government, you've got to recognise the rights of all citizens, men and women, on an equal
03:21basis.
03:22So, I'm very glad to note that the Ministry of Home Affairs has been very sympathetic
03:26now, and they are ready to allow for citizenship rights to be given to applicants, and we hope
03:36that this, their attitude will also continue with those people who are above 18 years,
03:43because this order only operates with 18 years and under children, aged 18 years and
03:48under.
03:49But, we must not forget that because of all the delays, as Adeline has pointed out, you
03:54know, all the delays, some of the children have gone beyond 18 years, through no fault
03:58of theirs, and because of the bureaucratic blocks that were put forward, so we believe
04:06that the Minister for Home Affairs is sympathetic to that situation, and even for those above
04:1118 years, if you can make out a case that, you know, they were knocked out because of
04:17the delays that were caused by the Ministry itself, they are quite prepared to give citizenship
04:24to those children.
04:25So, we are very thankful and hopeful.
04:27So, we must not forget, you know, this is a government of the people, by the people,
04:31for the people.
04:32So, these are people, right?
04:36So, there is no excuse for not giving citizenship rights to their children, you know.
04:43They have no, if I could put it a little bit more stronger, they have no business to reject,
04:48no ground, no rational grounds to reject, especially after the government itself passed
04:53a special amendment in 2001 to say that you cannot discriminate on the basis of gender.
05:00They passed that act, and they announced in Parliament at that time that this is passed
05:06because they have international obligations, under international law, to treat children,
05:12to consider paramount interests of children, to be, to implement that particular provision
05:20itself.
05:21So, okay, we are thankful that finally, you know, they have agreed to this, and we are
05:26thankful to the Minister and to this government, and we hope this attitude will pervade in
05:31respect of all mothers, regardless, and children of all Malaysian mothers, regardless of their
05:38age.