Unequal laws

MALAYSIAN women and unmarried Malaysian men do not have the same rights as married Malaysian men in their ability to confer their nationality on their children.

A married Malaysian father has no restrictions in passing his citizenship to his children or his spouse but Malaysian women are not able to confer their nationality on their foreign spouses.

The affected women’s spouses and children who do not have citizenship because of these discriminatory laws will find difficulties accessing education, property (non-citizens can only buy property above RM1mil), healthcare and employment. It can also affect a person’s mobility, protection or even access to justice.

A coalition of rights activists, lawyers and civil society have formed a “citizenship taskforce” that is calling for the federal constitution to be ammended to eliminate any form of discrimination based on gender in the rights to confer nationality.

“The nationality laws are so lopsided and until the constitution is changed and the laws ammended, Malaysian women and unmarried Malaysian men will continue to be treated as unequal citizens,” said Bina Ramanand, co-ordinator of Foreign Spouse Support Group (FSSG).

Right now, according to Malaysian law:

● Any Malaysian husband can pass on his nationality to his wife after two years of residency. The two-year timeline is on paper; in reality it takes longer

● A Malaysian woman can’t do the same for her foreign spouse – he must wait 10 years after he gets PR just like any other person who gets citizenship by naturalisation

● A Malaysian man can pass on citizenship to his child born overseas very easily ... it takes about three days.

● A Malaysian woman cannot – she has to apply to the Malaysian embassy and wait indefinitely for the result. Often, applications get rejected with no reason given.

● An unmarried Malaysian man cannot confer citizenship on his children, born in Malaysia or abroad.

The children will have to follow the nationality of his foreign spouse.