NETIZENS are up in arms over yet another foreign-born footballer playing for Malaysia receiving Malaysian citizenship, even as thousands of overseas-born children of Malaysian mothers are unable to.
Yesterday (Aug 31), Sri Pahang football club midfielder Lee Tuck, originally from Huddersfield in the UK, took to Instagram to announce that he is now a naturalised Malaysian citizen.
“It’s been a tough road with making sacrifices in order to get here, but this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass on,” added Lee, who has been playing in the Malaysia League since 2017.
Many on social media were incensed over the announcement, with DAP leader Kasthuri Patto calling on the Government to “do the same” for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers by awarding them citizenship:
The Batu Kawan MP was making reference to a contentious citizenship clause in the Federal Constitution that says an overseas-born child must have a Malaysian father in order to have Malaysian citizenship, and a recent court decision on the matter.
Last month, the Court of Appeal ruled that the word “father” in the Second Schedule of Part 11 of the constitution meant the biological father and cannot be extended to include the mother or parents.
In a two-one majority, the three-person bench also overturned the landmark decision by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in 2021 that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers are automatically entitled to Malaysian citizenship.
Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) central executive committee member Ainie Haziqah said reading about Lee getting Malaysian citizenship “boiled her to the core”:
“What about our children?”
Similarly, Yayasan Chow Kit founder Dr Hartini Zainuddin said she knows of four children under 15 years old waiting to get Malaysian citizenship, while their siblings too have been waiting for 10 years.
“Come on, Malaysia! This is so, so unfair,” she said.
In a related Twitter thread earlier, Tini noted that stateless children – including those born out of wedlock, abandoned at birth or whose birth or parents’ marriages were never registered – inherit circumstances that “limit their potential” in life.
“They are born, live and, unless they can resolve their situation, die as almost invisible people,” she said, citing administrative requirements by the National Registration Department (NRD) that they cannot fulfill, despite most of them having lived their entire lives in Malaysia.
Single mother Rachel Ng, who has been fighting for her son’s citizenship for some time now, asked: “Where are the haters when you need them?”, referring to criticism folks like her get online for pushing for their children’s citizenship.
Broadcast journalist and gender equality activist Tehmina Kaoosji raised the issue of apparent double standards after racer-footballer Afique Danial Bogers Izzad Bogers was denied the chance to play and race for Malaysia because of its “archaic, sexist citizenship laws”.
Afique, who was born to a Malaysian mother in The Netherlands, has not been successful in getting Malaysian citizenship.
“Some of us kids of Malaysian moms are adults,” Tehmina said. “Our whole lives hang in the balance, and yes, it feels especially bitter when we work hard on development talents but keep being sidelined just because we were born to Malaysian mothers.”
She also said she was tired of jokes that those in her boat should have played football so they can qualify for Malaysian citizenship:
According to Bernama, Malaysia already has three naturalised players, namely Mohamadou Sumareh, Liridon Krasniqi and Guilherme De Paula. – Sept 1, 2022
Main photo credit: Suriani Kempe
