Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) today urged the government to relook its citizenship policy, claiming it renders thousands of rightful Malaysians, especially children, stateless.

LFL executive director Eric Paulsen said yesterday's Court of Appeal decisions in two cases have placed an almost impossible burden on stateless children to prove they are not citizens of other countries when they should have a right to citizenship by operation of the law.

This, Paulsen said, falls under the Second Schedule, Part II, Clause 1(e) of the Federal Constitution that states that “every person born within the Federation who is not born a citizen of any other country” is a citizen.