Court of Appeal: Citizenship for children born overseas if father is Malaysian

PUTRAJAYA: Only children born overseas to Malaysian fathers who are married to foreign spouses are entitled to citizenship by operation of law, the Court of Appeal held.

Court of Appeal judge Justice Kamaludin Md Said in his written grounds of judgment of last Friday's appellate court's 2-1 majority decision in disallowing citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers, said the word "father" in Section 1(b) of Part II of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution refers to father only and is not intended to include the mother.