KUALA LUMPUR: The law to allow children born abroad to Malaysian mothers with foreign spouses to be granted automatic citizenship was finally passed by Dewan Rakyat.
This comes after more than two-thirds majority in the August House voted to amend the Federal Constitution pertaining to citizenship on Thursday (Oct 17).
Earlier before voting, Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said that the bloc vote was needed in accordance with Article 159 of the Federal Constitution with regard to Constitutional Amendments.
He ordered the bell to be rung for two minutes with additional three minutes given for MPs to make their way into the House.
Following tallying of the votes, 206 yays and one nay with 14 absent.
The Bill, which also contained several other amendments pertaining to citizenship laws, was deferred several times.
The Bill was tabled for its first reading on March 25, with the second reading slated two days later.
However, the Dewan Rakyat was adjourned shortly after the second reading by Saifuddin before the Bill was debated and put to a vote.
In the previous parliamentary meeting in July, debate and voting on the Bill were once again deferred until the current meeting in October.
Other amendments also included the amendments to Clause 2 of Article 15 of the Constitution to lower the age limit for citizenship application to 18 from 21 in line with the voting age in Malaysia; as well as the definition of "child" as provided in the Child Act 2001 and the age of majority as provided in the Age of Majority Act 1971.
There are several other amendments.
The delay in passing the citizenship law was due to criticism and concerns from several quarters resulting in the Bill being referred to three separate Parliamentary Special Select Committees for fine-tuning.
More to come
