Amend constitution on citizenship, urges Syed Saddiq

SHAH ALAM – Muda president Syed Sadiq Syed Abdul Rahman has urged the government to amend Article 14(3) of the Federal Constitution to allow Malaysian mothers who are married to foreign spouses to automatically obtain citizenship for their children born overseas.

He said although the Court of Appeal made a ruling in favour of the government to not grant citizenship to the children, he respected the decision.

However, he said as an MP, it was his responsibility to defend the rights of the children born overseas to Malaysian mothers.

He said the Home Minister has given its commitment last year in Parliament to amend the Federal Constitution to include “children born overseas to Malaysian mothers” under the Third Schedule, Article 14(3) of the Federal Constitution.

“I urge the Home Minister to take this issue seriously and to expedite the process of obtaining the approval from the Conference of Rulers to table the proposal for amendment of the Federal Constitution in Parliament.

"This is a matter of life and death and the future of these children,” he said in a statement, today.

He said the citizenship rights functioned as a door to other fundamental rights as a Malaysian. Children born overseas to Malaysian mothers should be given equal rights similar to children born overseas to Malaysian fathers.

“They too are Malaysians," he added.

Family rights advocacy group Family Frontiers and six Malaysian women who are married to foreigners with overseas-born children had on Sept 9, 2021, succeeded in their lawsuit at the Kuala Lumpur High Court seeking for their children born abroad to automatically become Malaysian citizens.

However, earlier today, a three-member Court of Appeal bench in a 2-1 majority overturned the decision after allowing an appeal by the government, Home Ministry and National Registration Department (NRD) director-general.

The court ruled that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers who are married to foreign spouses are not entitled by operation of law to be Malaysian citizens.

The majority decision was agreed to by judge Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said who chaired the bench and judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi, while judge Datuk S. Nantha Balan dissented.