PETALING JAYA: There will be a clearer standard operating procedure (SOP) on citizenship applications while the long-awaited citizenship Bill will be up for debate in the next Dewan Rakyat meeting, says Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
Although the Bill on the constitutional amendments to citizenship laws was on the order paper, it was not presented for debate and subsequently the second and third readings during the last meeting of the Dewan Rakyat, which concluded on Thursday after being in session for 15 days.
In fact, it was one of the four Bills postponed to the next meeting of the House, which will begin on Oct 14.
The Home Minister said the Bill had been presented to the Conference of Rulers and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).
“I would say that the outcome is very, very positive, so we will be able to proceed with the debate in the next meeting,” he said.
Suhakam, he added, had offered a few proposals.
“I met with the Suhakam chairman. We managed to agree on certain things.”
He also said that out of the nine amendments, the first three were a non-issue because “they are not applicable anymore and are related to Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore”.
He noted that there was a consensus on the amendments to Article 14(1)(b), which deal with the conditions of citizenship.
“We will keep 19B (Part III of the Second Schedule) and Section 1(e) (Part II of the Second Schedule) related the foundling baby and individuals without citizenship.
“Originally, we intended to amend them but as of now, we have decided to maintain the status,” said Saifuddin Nasution.
Article 19B refers to the naturalisation of foundlings and abandoned children while 1(e) of the Second Schedule states that every person born within the Federation who was not born a citizen of any country are citizens of Malaysia by operation of law.
“The other thing is on the 18-year-olds; the interpretation by some NGOs is that once you reach 18, then only you are able to apply for citizenship, which is not the case.
“That 18-year-olds (provision) actually refers to one who already has a citizenship and is born overseas to a Malaysian mother married to a foreigner,” said Saifuddin Nasution.
“When we proceed with this amendment, that means children will automatically become a Malaysian citizen and at the same time, he or she carries the citizenship from their father, so now you have dual citizenship.
“At what age then can you relinquish one? It is 18,” he said.
He pointed out that some NGOs understood the amendment to mean that the person only applied once they reached 18.
“That is totally wrong,” he said.
The ministry, Saifuddin Nasution said, would also be coming up with clearer SOP to “answer basic questions” on citizenship applications.
The citizenship rules were already there but this was needed to help the public understand them better, he added.
“Some of the SOP has been completed and efforts are being made to finish it, so that’s the way forward,” he said.
The Bill to amend the Federal Constitution was supposed to be tabled for the second reading by March 27, which was the last day of the previous Dewan Rakyat meeting.
However, after the Home Minister had delivered his speech, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul went on to present his closing speech and adjourn the meeting without putting the Bill for debate. The Bill was tabled for the first reading on March 25.
