Saifuddin: Amendment on overseas-born kids has huge impact on Home Ministry

MACHANG: Amendments to the Federal Constitution related to the citizenship of children born overseas to Malaysian mothers will have a big impact on the Home Ministry, says Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution (pic).

The Home Minister said that this is because it receives many applications related to citizenship issues.

"There are applications in this category so that is why the amendments will have to go through the due process and it will have a big impact on several components of the Home Ministry," he said.

Saifuddin said this after officiating at the KDN Madani 2023 programme at Kompleks Perpaduan Jajahan Machang here on Saturday (Feb 18) which was also attended by the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani and Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud.

Earlier, Saifuddin and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said in a joint statement that the Cabinet had agreed to the proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution to allow children born abroad to Malaysian mothers married to foreigners to obtain Malaysian citizenship.

The statement said the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2023 is expected to be tabled in Parliament in the current session after fulfilling legal requirements.

The proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution on this matter is to replace the word ‘whose father’ in Part I and Part II of the Second Schedule with the words ‘at least one of the parents’ to enable Malaysian mothers to receive their just rights according to the Federal Constitution.

Meanwhile, when asked if the government will upgrade the identity document, Saifuddin said the security features on the identity document are sufficient and it is very difficult to forge them.

"When we choose a system that we call MyKad (personal identification document) it is complete with all the security features whether it is on the chip, photograph and so on.

"Currently we have not received any problems or complaints from the people because this identity document has 12 security features and it is very difficult for any party to try to forge it as it adhered to the set standards," he added. - Bernama