AFTER a long wait, a group of Malaysian mothers with non-Malaysian spouses are now able to start the process to get their overseas-born children registered for Malaysian citizenship.
This comes after the Court of Appeal dismissed an application by the Federal Government to stay a lower court ruling that Malaysian mothers have the right to confer citizenship to overseas-born children.
According to Family Frontiers president Suri Kempe, the trip to the National Registration Department (JPN) “breathed life into the High Court’s judgement and confirmed that Malaysian women have the equal rights to automatically confer citizenship to their children”.
“The mothers and their children went in, and JPN officers swiftly and efficiently facilitated the process to get their citizenship confirmation certificate, which will be issued within three months.
“Then, their children will finally be recognized as Malaysian citizens, and the mothers can use the citizenship confirmation certificate to get the children’s identity cards,” she said in a statement.
According to Suri, the court order applies to all mothers who are similarly affected, and they can now head to the nearest JPN office to obtain Malaysian identity cards for their children.
She added that NRD had informed Family Frontiers that they would issue SOPs to all its offices nationwide as well as Malaysian Embassies and High Commissions around the world to allow Malaysian mothers overseas to obtain their children’s citizenship-related documents.
Prior to this, the Government had been denying Malaysian mothers from conferring citizenship to their children who are born overseas while allowing men to do so.
As a result, Malaysian women who are married to non-Malaysian cannot pass down their citizenship to a child if the child is born outside Malaysia.
On Sept 9, the Kuala Lumpur High Court declared that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers are automatically entitled to Malaysian citizenship.
The Government had filed an appeal against the decision and applied for a stay on the High Court’s decision.
“Even as we wait for the appeal to be heard at the Court of Appeal in March 2022, we underscore that the High Court judgment respect Malaysian women’s status as equal citizens, individuals of equal worth and dignity as men.
“To continue with the appeal makes no logical, moral or economic sense and is devoid of compassion and blind to the realities of Malaysian women and their children,” Suri concluded. – Dec 29, 2021
