AMENDMENTS to the Federal Constitution on citizenship laws will be put to vote today, with the Home Minister assuring that he will resolve the issue of citizenship involving 30,000 individuals born in Malaysia to parents with permanent resident status.
Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told the Dewan Rakyat that changes to the citizenship laws would not affect this group.
“I will be addressing this when I wind up the debates on the Bill. I will provide a way out,” he told a press conference.
Saifuddin explained that this group comprised those who are born to foreign parents with permanent residency but do not hold dual citizenship.
The parents of these local born PR holders have been living in Malaysia prior to Independence in 1957 or the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
“They have no entry permits nor travel documents of a foreign country. Based on records there are more than 30,000 of them, of which about 10,000 had applied for citizenship,” Saifuddin said.
He said the proposed amendments would ensure that citizenship be granted only to those who have no other options to avoid dual citizenship of the child.
The Bill to amend the Federal Constitution was tabled for its first reading on March 25, with the second reading slated two days later.
However, the Dewan Rakyat was adjourned after the second reading before the Bill was debated and put to the vote.
During the parliamentary meeting in July, voting and debate on the Bill was once again deferred until the current meeting.
The delay in passing the citizenship law was due to criticisms and concerns from several quarters, resulting in the Bill being referred to three separate Parliamentary Special Select Committees for further fine-tuning.
Yesterday, a motion was passed, stating that the Dewan Rakyat proceedings for the day would only end after the citizenship Bill was dealt with by the House, which meant its passing.
However, at about 4pm, Saifuddin held a press conference to confirm that the Bill would be voted on today, giving 59 MPs the chance to debate it.
The Bill seeks to amend Part II of the Second Schedule to the Federal Constitution to allow children born overseas to Malaysian mothers with foreign spouses to be granted the automatic right to confer their citizenship for their children.
Among the amendments are to Clause 2 of Article 15 of the Federal Constitution to lower the age limit for citizenship application to 18 from 21; and 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.
