PETALING JAYA: A civil society and six mothers have filed a suit to seek a declaration that Malaysian women married to foreigners have the right under the Federal Constitution for their overseas-born children to have the right to be Malaysian citizens.
An originating summons was filed at the High Court here today by the women, and Suri Kempe, president of the women’s group Family Frontiers.
The women named in the suit are Myra Eliza Mohd Danil, Adlyn Adam Teoh, Choong Wai Li and Ng Mei Mei. Two others sought to remain anonymous.
They want a declaration that a citizenship section of the Federal Constitution is in violation of the constitutional protection of equal treatment of citizens by only allowing fathers to obtain citizenship for children born outside Malaysia.
The women are challenging Article 14(1)(b) read together with the Second Schedule, Part II, Sections 1(b) and 1(c) of the Federal Constitution, citing the equality provision of Article 8.
They also want a declaration that the children of these mothers should be granted the right to citizenship, and want the court to order all government agencies to issue citizenship documents, identity cards and passports, to all children born outside Malaysia whose mothers are Malaysian citizens.
At a press conference later, Suri said Family Frontiers wanted to hold the government accountable as it was a signatory of the United Nations. They also sought to have the government revise its reservations on international conventions that have called for legal gender equality.
She said Malaysia is one of 25 countries that have yet to allow women to confer their nationalities to their children born overseas by default.
“In 2006, Indonesia reformed its nationality law to uphold comprehensive gender equality,” she said. “This makes Malaysia and Brunei the only nations in Asean to maintain gender-discriminatory citizenship laws.”
She said Malaysian women applying for citizenship for their children were not prepared for the long, arduous and eventually fruitless struggle it entailed.
“These applications take years, and frequently end in rejection without explanation.”
Malaysian mothers, stateless children
She added that these children are deprived of basic rights entitled to every Malaysian child, such as education, healthcare, and social protections.
One of the tearful plaintiffs, Adlyn, said that her eight year old son deserved to be free from statelessness. “The only Independence Day he knows is Aug 31,” she said. “The only national anthem he knows is Negaraku.”
She revealed that her attempts at applying for citizenship for her children have been futile at every turn.
When travelling to visit her ailing grandmother in Sarawak, her son’s status mandated a quarantine before he could cross the borders. “How could I leave my child alone in an unfamiliar place? What was I supposed to do?”
With her grandmother now bedridden, Adlyn fears she and her son have missed their chance at one last reunion.
Meanwhile, her co-plaintiff who prefers to be known as Myra, says she’s torn every time her daughter asks why her passport is green and not red. “She’s a sensitive and observant child”, she said. “She tries to keep a happy front for our benefit, even though she senses that something is wrong.”
Having applied once before when her child was first born, Myra said she tried asking the Zimbabwe embassy for assistance but to no avail. “I applied again, but so far there has been no response.”
Earlier this month, Deputy Home Minister Ismail Mohamed Said was reported to have cited national security concerns as to why children born abroad to Malaysian women married to foreign spouses cannot be conferred automatic citizenship.
He has come under criticism from Noor Aziah Mohd Awal, children’s commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, and Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh.