End statelessness through remaining amendments

KOTA KINABALU: The CSO Platform for Reform welcomes the announcement made by the Home Minister that the ministry has decided not to proceed with two of the proposed Federal Constitution amendments on citizenship for foundlings, stateless children and vulnerable groups.

These are Section 19B of Part III of the Second Schedule and Section 1(e) of Part II of the Second Schedule.

However, CSO Platform for Reform Steering Committee says there are three other constitutional amendments that will have adverse impacts on stateless children, undocumented Malaysians, and foreign spouses of Malaysian men. These amendments will pose significant challenges, particularly for vulnerable groups within Malaysia:

Section 1(a) Part II of the Second Schedule - Amendment on this section intends to remove ‘Permanently Resident’ of this section. Children of Permanent Residents (PR), many of whom reside in Sabah who often had their indigenous parents pass their PR status down to them will face the risk of being rendered stateless generationally.

Article 26(2) in relation to Article 15(1) - Amendment on this section intends to replace the excerpt ‘date of marriage’ with ‘date of obtaining citizenship’. Foreign wives to Malaysian men who renounced their citizenship, as dual citizenship is not recognised in Malaysia and will be at risk of being rendered stateless if the marriage is dissolved within two years of obtaining her citizenship. This could have detrimental consequences to divorced households and to the foreign wives.

Articles 15A and 19(2) Amendments on these section intends to the reduce the time frame of one’s pathway to citizenship from 21 years to 18 years; this is particularly harmful to all Malaysians as even applications for citizenship by registration would usually take an unusual amount of years amounting to possibly six years, only for them to receive a rejection letter with no specific reasons; adding up to years longer than the 21-year-old limit without consideration to the individual’s wellbeing and financial situation.

“It is imperative that these remaining regressive amendments are re-evaluated and addressed to ensure that Malaysia’s citizenship laws uphold principles of inclusivity, fairness, and protection for all individuals, regardless of their background or circumstances especially when the issue of statelessness within Sabah and Malaysia is so under-researched with no transparent data readily provided by the government to the public, allowing generational statelessness and xenophobia to perpetuate throughout rural areas whereas most of our indigenous Malaysians are affected,” says CSO Platform for Reform Steering Committee in a statement on Sunday

It says the Madani Government has missed an opportunity to have more discussions with impacted community leaders before committing to these amendments, more so evident with this recent update. This now provides an opportunity for the government as well as the Home Ministry to engage with more Members of Parliament, legal experts, state agencies, CSOs and grassroots organisations with on-theground experiences on this issue prior to it even being considered to be tabled. The lack of such initial engagement to properly brief other politicians and the public has almost allowed regressive amendments pass under the nose of Malaysians, potentially causing adverse generational damage to current and future Malaysians.

The CSO Platform for Reform urges the government to increase its engagements with a broader range of stakeholders, including civil society organisations (CSOs) with on-the-ground experiences, to ensure that the voices and perspectives of all Malaysians are heard and considered in the decision-making process. By fostering a more inclusive dialogue, we can work together towards implementing reforms that truly reflect the needs and aspirations of our diverse society.

“We reiterate our call which was issued in our press statement last year.

“We call upon the Madani Government to provide statistics and demographics for the number of foundlings and children of PR holders who have been granted citizenship in Sabah and Sarawak; to have inclusive consultation sessions with stateless Indigenous People to address their plight; to engage civil society organisations, specifically CSOs/NGOs working closely with the stateless and undocumented grassroot communities.”

In addition, itq also calls on the government to provide the statistics on citizenship status of the Orang Asli community.

The CSO Platform for Reform reaffirms its commitment to advocating for progressive reforms that safeguard the rights and dignity of all Malaysians, specifically for those most vulnerable in our society.