Cabinet okays citizenship amendments

PUTRAJAYA: The Cabinet has given the green light to the proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution related to granting citizenship, with the aim for them to be tabled at the Dewan Rakyat this year, says Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

Later, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim clarified at another event that it will be tabled this month.

The Home Minister said he had briefed the Cabinet on what the proposed amendments entailed at its weekly meeting yesterday.

Saifuddin Nasution was criticised by several quarters when he announced in the Dewan Rakyat last November that the proposed amendments would be tabled soon.

Although the amendments would resolve the issue of the citizenship of children born to Malaysian mothers abroad, civil rights groups said the changes would create a larger class of stateless children.

The proposed amendments would make it a requirement that there is proof that the foundlings were born in Malaysia before any citizenship application can be submitted.

Asked about concerns that the proposed amendments were regressive, Saifuddin Nasution dismissed the allegations, saying that the government had not ignored applications for citizenship.

He pointed to the number of cases that his ministry had looked through and resolved.

Between 2013 and 2023, the ministry had received a total of 140,000 citizenship applications.

He said from this figure, 49,000 applications were still awaiting consideration or approval. Last year, 11,700 applications were looked into.

“How can the government be accused of being cruel when we have resolved so many applications?” he added.

On Feb 22, several matters including the proposed Police (Amendment) Bill 2023 and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2024 regarding citizenship were discussed at the 265th Meeting of the Conference of Rulers.

On another matter, Saifuddin Nasution invited Human Rights Watch (HRW) to share details on its findings that human rights violations and abuses were happening in immigration detention centres.

He said for claims of abuse and death, the group should provide details, including the names of victims and in which depots they happened.

“I am willing to listen and if they can come up with evidence, I will personally call for an investigation to be carried out immediately.

“Until then, claims in the report remain hearsay and poor methodology was used in preparing it,” he said.

HRW in its recent report claimed that immigration depots had seen abuses such as forced squats, push-ups as well as officers forcing detainees to hold stress positions.

It also claimed that these centres had deplorable conditions, were devoid of medical care and that detainees were subject to torture and prolonged physical abuse, which had led to several deaths.