I IMAGINE that there are plenty of indignant quarters out there who are gnashing their teeth at Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin’s latest statement about citizenship status of overseas-born children.
According to the minister, a provision in the supreme law of Malaysia allowing only Malaysian fathers to obtain automatic citizenship for their overseas-born children is not discriminatory. To put it simply, in layman’s terms, the federal constitution favours the male sex in the passing down of citizenship.
But this is the 21st century, Hamzah, and archaic laws that promote gender inequality and sexism should have no place here. We must keep with the times, so to speak, and do away with out-of-date legislations to better reflect the modern times.
Following the minister’s logic, what he’s implying is that women are lesser beings as compared to men, and are therefore not important enough to be the basis of her children’s citizenship. How can this not be wrong? More importantly, how can this not be discriminatory?
In this case, it’s high time the Government make the necessary amendments, and that is to ensure that children born aboard to Malaysian women are granted equal rights in securing Malaysian citizenship.
After all, why should children of Malaysian women born abroad to non-Malaysian fathers be punished through no fault of their own?
Such deprivation of automatic Malaysian citizenship would incur nothing but misery to all parties involved, with the children bearing the most brunt of it all.
Their stateless situation would render them ineligible for any form of Government aid, including education, healthcare and economic assistance. Is this what we truly the future that we want for our children?
Malaysian mothers should be treated equally as Malaysian fathers, and should be bestowed the same rights and freedom as well. Revising gender-bias legislations is a positive step towards ensuring that gender equality, alongside the welfare of the children involved, are safeguarded.
One doesn’t need to be a legal expert to understand that no law – not even the Federal Constitution – is set in stone, and ergo, can be amended accordingly. So, what’s stopping the Government from doing the right thing? – June 18, 2021
