Govt to table cabinet paper on amending citizenship laws by Feb - Saifuddin

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail today reaffirmed the government's commitment to amend the country's laws that concern citizenship issues, including for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers.

Confirming Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said's earlier statement that the government will propose to amend the Federal Constitution's citizenship rule, he said the Home Ministry expects to table its cabinet paper on the matter by next month (February).

Speaking at a presser in Putrajaya this afternoon, Saifuddin Nasution (above) said the ongoing case at the Federal Court - where a group of Malaysian mothers are appealing to overturn an earlier decision by the Court of Appeal that barred them from having their children from getting automatic citizenship - would not hinder the new administration's commitment to look into the issue from the perspective of a constitutional amendment.

"I think the process (for cabinet paper) will be quick. My target is to table the paper in the cabinet by February.

"(Because) I still need to do some finetuning on the paper," he told reporters.

Last week, Azalina announced that a proposal to amend the Federal Constitution’s citizenship rules will be tabled in the cabinet soon.

Saifuddin Nasution told the press conference that the government will let the court process regarding the appeal by Malaysian mothers to run its due course.

“The government lost the case at the High Court, but won it at the Court of Appeal. And now the date for the case (appeal) has been set at the Federal Court.

“While the due process continues at the Federal Court, it will not stop the new government’s political will to look at the matter from the aspect of a constitutional amendment.

“I think it would have no effect on our plan about citizenship issues, where we will look into improving it from legal aspects,” he said.

On September 9 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court declared that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers are automatically entitled to Malaysian citizenship.

The case was brought by six Malaysian mothers and Family Frontiers, who had initially filed their civil action at the High Court on Dec 18, 2020.

However, the government, then under Muhyiddin Yassin’s leadership, had appealed the Court of Appeal against the High Court decision.

The appellate court then overturned the decision on August 5 last year, and the mothers had subsequently filed an appeal to the Federal Court.  

Lengthy process

During today's press conference, Saifuddin Nasution said the process to introduce amendments to the laws would take some time.

According to the minister, the proposal is now at the stage of preparation by a special task force, which is looking at the relevant legal aspects.

After the cabinet paper is tabled by the Home Ministry to the cabinet, he elaborated, they would then have to engage the Law and Institutional Reform division of the prime minister’s department. The cabinet would also decide whether a joint cabinet paper would be tabled.

Should the cabinet agree to the paper, the government would then have engage with stakeholders, including civil societies, experts, other relevant ministries and agencies, among others.

“Simultaneously, we will also engage with the attorney-general, whose function is to determine whether we need to propose a new law or amend (existing laws),” he said when asked when the proposal can be expected to be tabled at the Dewan Rakyat.

Speaking about the ministry’s commitment to address the citizenship issue, Saifuddin Nasution said legal issues are dynamic in the sense that many of the existing laws used by the country dated back to as early as in the 50s and 60s.

“For example, back then, it could not be imagined that many Malaysian women would find a spouse from around the world.

“But today, the number of Malaysians who get married to foreigners is high. We are seeing an increasing trend.

“So we have to update whatever rules or constitutional aspects, so our commitment is to look into the need to make improvements or amendments,” he said.

Saifuddin Nasution told reporters that the ministry also wants to address the issue of pending citizenship applications.

He said between 2017 and 2022, the National Registration Department received a total of 54,000 applications.

Of the figure, 7,000 have been approved while 36,000 others are still being processed. The rest were either unsuccessful or had been rejected.

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