After backlash, Putrajaya withdraws citizenship law amendments affecting foundlings

PUTRAJAYA: The Cabinet has decided to stop two of eight constitutional amendments on Malaysian citizenship that would have affected foundlings in the country, Home Minister Senator Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said yesterday.

He said the two affecting Sections 19(B) and (1)(E) from the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution were discontinued based on feedback from federal lawmakers and others.

Saifuddin added that the Home Ministry had intended to amend the two areas so that the citizenship applications of foundlings would be by registration rather than by law.

“I had meetings with party whips, legal experts, agencies and also parliamentary members.

“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also had a meeting with the party representatives and all suggestions were agreed. Hence, the Cabinet has agreed to maintain the [two sections]of the Federal Constitution,” he said, in a press conference here.

Saifuddin said the Cabinet also reminded his ministry that the constitutional amendments would require two-thirds support in Parliament.

He said the Cabinet further recommended clear mechanisms for citizenship-related ma ers to prevent applicants from having to wait for months or years.

The minister’s announcement yesterday came a er strong pushback from civil society groups, which expressed concern over the potential for the proposed amendments to deny the constitutional right of foundlings to citizenship.

In particular, they had opposed the proposed amendment to Section 19B, Part III of the Second Schedule that sought to amend citizenship by ‘operation of law’ to citizenship by ‘registration’.

The effect of this amendment would be that foundlings and abandoned children would no longer be entitled to automatic citizenship.

Critics such as former Malaysian Bar president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan had likened the proposed amendment to the government ‘waging war’ on children.