'Govt won't revoke citizenship if person would end up stateless'

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said a government panel tasked to deliberate non-voluntary citizenship renouncements will not render an individual to be stateless.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament today, he cited an existing provision under the Federal Constitution that also protects non-Malaysians who are granted Malaysian citizenships but later faced with non-voluntary revocation.

Specifically, he cited a caveat under Article 26B(2) which states that no person shall be deprived of citizenship under Article 25, paragraph (b) of Clause (1) of Article 26, or Article 26A, if the federal government is satisfied that, as a result of the deprivation, the person would not be a citizen of any country.

“To the concern raised if a woman would become stateless following the dissolution of marriage after obtaining citizenship, it is stated in the Constitution that if, with the revocation, the subject is not a citizen of any other country, the revocation cannot be carried out,” Saifuddin said.

He said this in response to concerns raised surrounding a proposed amendment to Article 26(2) of the Federal Constitution, in relation to Article 15(1) on citizenship for foreign wives.

Article 26(2) states that the government can reject an application for citizenship by a non-Malaysian woman if it is found the marriage was dissolved within two years of the “date of the marriage”.

The proposed amendment seeks to change the words to “date of obtaining citizenship”.

“The matter relates to revocation of citizenship. Why are we amending the words? Because it will never happen for a foreign woman married to a Malaysian man to obtain citizenship within two years from the date of marriage,” he said.

Citizenship for foreign wife

Saifuddin explained that the current process states that a foreign woman married to a Malaysian man will need to reside in Malaysia for at least eight years before they are eligible to apply for citizenship.

“For the first five years after their marriage is registered here, she will be given a spouse visa. In the sixth year, she can get an entry permit that must be kept for two years, so that’s seven years (in Malaysia).

“Only in the eighth year can she apply for citizenship [...] So we amend the words to be from ‘within two years from the date of obtaining citizenship’,” he said.

In the cases of non-voluntary citizenship revocation, Saifuddin said the decision will go through a verification process that includes protection against the risk of statelessness.

He added that a new caveat will also be introduced with added requirements for individuals who applied to voluntarily renounce their citizenship.

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