PETALING JAYA: The government should drop new amendments to the Federal Constitution as it will create a new class of stateless people, activists say.
“Infants and children will be punished from birth.This proposed amendment flies in the face of the reason for its original incorporation into the Federal Constitution. This history is important,” they said in a statement on Wednesday (August 30).
The activists who issued the joint statement are Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, Datuk Hartini Zainudin, Latheefa Koya and Maalini Ramalo.
In the statement, they said that the proposed removal of section 1(e) of the 2nd Schedule of Part 2 of the Constitution will have a devastating effect on persons who are rendered stateless by the circumstances of their birth.
They said that the 1957 Constitution granted citizenship to anyone born on Malaysian soil under the principle of "jus soli".
“Amendments were made in 1962 to include the requirement that one parent must be a citizen to confer citizenship on the child. To prevent the danger of persons being rendered stateless with this new requirement, section 1(e) was introduced into the Constitution
“The drafters of this 1962 amendment were far-sighted and provided an indispensable safety net in the form of section 1(e),” they said.
The activists added that the decision to remove section 1(e) will result in the creation of a new underclass, living in a country that refuses to recognise their legitimate existence and systemically bars them from participating in society on equal terms.
They said the government’s proposed amendments do not stop there, with there also being the aim to remove section 19B of the 2nd Schedule Part 3 which removes the right of foundlings (abandoned children or orphans) to citizenship.
“This new amendment is patently to nullify the landmark decision of the Federal Court in CCH & Anor v Pendaftar Besar Bagi Kelahiran dan Kematian, Malaysia [2022] 1 MLJ 71, on the rights of foundlings to citizenship.
“It will undo the Federal Court’s reasoned and progressive decision to protect foundlings from statelessness,” they said.
“These are not the only amendments that are being proposed; the right to citizenship of permanent residents are also to be removed, making children of those who permanently reside here now potentially stateless as well,” they added.
Describing the proposed amendments as nothing short of cruelty, they said it was done under the wrong-headed notion that stateless persons are a security issue.
“They are not. They are instead hapless individuals that have fallen through the bureaucratic cracks of the administration.
“Despite the outcry, the government plans to present the proposed amendments to the Conference of Rules for their consent in October,” they said.
The activists added that the effects of statelessness are devastating.
“(Those who are) stateless are barred from access to education, healthcare, gainful employment and all the other rights of a Malaysian citizen.
“They are forced to take on low-paying jobs or at worse dangerous and perhaps illegal work, all the while under constant threat of harassment, detention or extortion, including by rogue members of enforcement bodies," they said
They also called for the plight of the stateless to be at the forefront for this National Day.
“The slogan of unity and hope to Malaysians promoted by the government this National Day cannot be to the exclusion of the stateless.
“As such, we call upon the government to immediately drop these pernicious amendments to the Federal Constitution," they said.
