PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail should stop defending the proposed amendments to citizenship laws “as it callously ignores the plight of the stateless”, says Lawyers for Liberty (LFL).
"Framing it as a security issue due to the country purportedly facing 'problems involving migrants and others’ shows a total lack of understanding by the Home Minister, which is a deliberate misrepresentation of issue,” said LFL director Zaid Malek
He said this in a statement on Thursday (Nov 2) in response to Saifuddin's statement justifying the amendments to the Federal Constitution related to citizenship laws in Parliament on Wednesday (Nov 1).
Zaid claims that the proposed amendments aim to make the grant of citizenship the sole power of the Home Ministry instead of automatic for those who fulfil the requirement of the Second Schedule, Part II section 1(e) as it currently stands.
He said that the National Registration Department (NRD) deliberately ignoring clear provisions of the law and obfuscating the citizenship process are the primary causes of the prolonged suffering of the stateless.
“The stateless are not ‘migrants and others’; they are Malaysian citizens unlawfully made stateless due to the actions and omissions of the government.
It is baffling that the government has chosen to worsen the statelessness problem with the proposed amendments instead of resolving it,” he added.
Zaid urged the government to see reason and return the spirit of the Constitution that acknowledges the rights to citizenship and its assurance that no one would be made stateless within our shores.
"Withdraw the proposed amendments unequivocally and without delay," he added.
