Citizenship laws: For better or worse

The Bajau Laut people in Sabah are among those who often face issues of generational statelessness due to their semi-nomadic lifestyle. – Agencies

BACK in 1962, then deputy prime minister Tun Abdul Razak stood before Parliament to espouse Article 15A of the Federal Constitution, saying the provision was meant to give the government discretion to register a person under 21 as a citizen in cases where it would be in the interest of the child and the country that the child be registered as a citizen.

Over six decades later, the government is now seeking to lower the age limit from 21 to 18, among other proposed citizenship amendments.