COMMENT | In 1962, Parliament amended Malaysia’s Constitution and made sweeping changes to the citizenship law.

Malaysia moved away from jus soli - citizenship based on place of birth - and adopted jus sanguinis, citizenship based on descent, as the overriding criterion for nationality.

Yet even as Parliament tightened its citizenship requirements, it preserved one vital principle: no person with genuine ties to this country should be made stateless.

This was not a political flourish. It was written into the constitutional fabric of a newly independent state determined to take its place among “civilised nations”.

Life in limbo

On Jan 20, 2026, the Court of Appeal will hear the case of...