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PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) children’s commissioner has urged the government to review its entry ban in countries with a high number of Covid-19 cases so that Malaysian mothers can return to the country with your foreign spouses.
Noor Aziah Mohd Awal said the pandemic had forced many mothers to choose between giving birth to a stateless child abroad or returning to Malaysia but being separated from their spouses for months.
“The uncertainty for children born to Malaysian mothers married to foreign spouses is truly alarming. It will have long-term effects on children when they grow up, ”Noor Aziah said at a Foreign Spouse Support Group (FSSG) webinar, celebrated today in conjunction with World Children’s Day.
FSSG co-founder Bina Ramanand said focus groups had found that many children born to Malaysian mothers were being raised in hotel rooms abroad without access to vaccinations or education, six months after the motion control order ( OLS).
It said 205 mothers had reported that their spouses were stranded abroad in August, and 44 of them were pregnant or raising their newborns without their parents.
Noor Aziah said that according to the federal Constitution, Malaysian women who give birth abroad cannot confer their nationality on their children.
As a result, he said, many mothers had returned to Malaysia alone during the pandemic to ensure that their children obtained citizenship.
Otherwise, they would have to go through a lengthy application process, with low approval rates.
“The government should simplify the process of approval and permanent residence to avoid hardships and financial difficulties for foreign spouses,” he said.
He said foreign spouses had to enter Malaysia with long-term social visit passes, prohibiting them from seeking employment for up to one year.
He urged Putrajaya to remove his limitations on employment for foreigners, as it could negatively impact family livelihoods and impede economic growth in the country.
Former Deputy Minister for Women, Family and Community Development Hannah Yeoh said a lack of cooperation from the Home Office had led to a backlog of applications for citizenship last year.
She said that the Interior Ministry under Muhyiddin Yassin during the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration had only agreed to expedite new applications, leaving around 40,000 existing applications still pending.
“With the current setup in Parliament, I don’t think we can see a proposed amendment tabled by the Interior Ministry in the near future,” he said, adding that the issue would come up during the debate for the ministry’s budget in two weeks.
Dr Amar Singh, a pediatrician and child rights advocate, said the separation would have long-term effects on the families’ mental health.
“More children and families are constantly anxious and depressed. Now that the Covid-19 pandemic has dragged on for months, there has been no real resolution, “he said.
“Children become less hopeful for the future and this hopelessness is not good for a young child. I don’t believe that online communication of any kind can replace the physical presence of a parent with a child. “
Amar said non-citizen children would also be denied access to education in public schools and routine immunization. This would effectively reduce the country’s herd immunity and expose people to more diseases.
