KUCHING: Lawyers and a women’s group have expressed concern over the status of children born in the case of a man from here who purportedly married two women recently.
This is because one of the women is reportedly an Indonesian while the other is local.
Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS) legal adviser Chua Kuan Ching said since the man could not register both marriages, any children from the unregistered marriage would be considered born out of wedlock.
“For the Malaysian wife, there’s nothing to worry about because it’s a matter of registering the birth with the father’s particulars.
“But it will make a difference for the foreign wife. If the marriage is not registered and the child is born out of wedlock, the nationality of the child will follow the mother,” she said.
Chua added that Malaysian law only permits monogamous marriages for non-Muslims.
“For SWWS, our concern is mainly on the family aspect. It’s not easy to maintain a polygamous marriage in society, which is not legal in any case, and there will be issues later when they have children,” she said.
Lawyer Simon Siah said polygamy is not permitted for non-Muslims under Section 6(2) of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act, while Sections 2 and 87 defined a child of the marriage as one of both parties to the marriage or a child of one party to the marriage accepted as a member of the family by the other party.
“The child in this context includes an illegitimate child of either of the parties pursuant to an adoption order.
“So in these circumstances, if one of the marriages is properly registered, the child from the other unregistered marriage may be required to be adopted by the registered couple,” he said.
However, Siah said his main concern in this case is whether the marriage to the Indonesian woman was registered.
If not, he said, their child would be considered born out of wedlock and not a Malaysian citizen, as Section 17 of the Federal Constitution’s Second Schedule provides that the citizenship of an illegitimate child follows that of the mother.
“In this case, the child would have to apply for citizenship in Indonesia, which may complicate the situation for the child.
“I am hoping that the marriage with the Indonesian (woman) has been registered in order not to cause an issue of statelessness for their child in the future,” Siah added.
Pending assemblyman Violet Yong, who is a lawyer, also expressed concern that any children from the Indonesian wife would face citizenship issues if her marriage was not registered.
“For children born out of wedlock to apply for Malaysian citizenship, an application under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution is required.
“For such applications, the outcome is uncertain and it usually takes years,” she said.
However, she noted that if the marriage with the Indonesian woman was registered before any child is born, there would be no issue with citizenship for the child in future.
Photos of the groom with two brides at a wedding dinner on March 11 were widely circulated on social media.
China Press reported that both women are employees at the kolo mee stall owned by the groom and that one of them is an Indonesian.
Meanwhile, Sin Chew Daily quoted a friend of the groom as saying that the wedding was carried out with the consent of all three parties.
