KUALA LUMPUR: Amend the citizenship laws for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers but halt the other five proposed amendments if the government is serious in eradicating statelessness among children, say NGOs and former stateless individuals.
They urged the government not to force “a false choice” upon stateless children at the expense of creating another group of stateless children through five other amendments to the citizenship laws.
The NGOs also insisted that the issue was not a political matter as it involved the lives of innocent foundlings and children who are neither migrants nor foreigners but undocumented in their own land.
Suriani Kempe of Family Frontiers said stateless children of vulnerable groups were deprived of citizenship.
“It is an ‘either or’ situation for us and it is a false choice being imposed on us,” she added.
Lawyers for Liberty director Zaid Malek said the government should relook at the five proposed amendments, adding that they were regressive.
“The government seems unable to differentiate between undocumented migrants and stateless children who have a right to citizenship under the Federal Constitution.
“The amendments threaten to remove any protection for these stateless children that are provided by the Constitution itself,” he added.
He also said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should not claim that the government had to abide by the decision of the Conference of Rulers as the amendments were drafted by the government itself.
“Do not punish stateless children for the mistakes of the National Registration Department and the Home Ministry for failing to comply with the provisions of the Federal Constitution,” he added.
Datuk Dr Hartini Zainuddin of Yayasan Chow Kit said stateless children exist among all races.
“As a parent who adopted two foundlings and guardian of 11 teenagers, I am frightened for them. Foundlings under the law are babies who are abandoned with no idea who their parents are due to baby dumping, trafficking or any other reason.
“These stateless children are not commodities for the government to play around with,” said Hartini.
Maalini Ramalo of Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas said the NGO had 7,000 cases in its database, mostly of children born out of wedlock.
“None of these cases are of foreigners or migrants. They are all of Malaysian origin and of Malaysian families.
“These stateless children are faulted because they were either born out of wedlock, abandoned or adopted by Malaysian parents. These five amendments remove the only safeguards for these children to get their citizenships.
“Section 1(e) is to protect these children and this was what Tunku Abdul Rahman had pushed for to prevent statelessness. That provision is being taken away,” said Maalini.
A former stateless child, Wong Kueng Hui, said he was disappointed with the government as he claimed he was once recruited to campaign for a Pakatan Harapan politician on the very issue during the last general election.
“Now, that MP from Pakatan is a Cabinet Minister, and she has failed to keep her promise to end statelessness,” he said.
