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PETALING JAYA: A civil society and six mothers have filed a lawsuit seeking a declaration that Malaysian women married to foreigners have the right under the federal Constitution to have their foreign-born children have the right to be Malaysian citizens.
The women and Suri Kempe, president of the Family Frontiers women’s group, filed an original subpoena in Superior Court here today.
The women named in the lawsuit are Myra Eliza Mohd Danil, Adlyn Adam Teoh, Choong Wai Li and Ng Mei Mei. Two others tried to remain anonymous.
They want a statement that a citizenship section of the federal Constitution violates the constitutional protection of equal treatment of citizens by allowing only parents to obtain citizenship for children born outside of Malaysia.
Women are challenging Article 14 (1) (b) read in conjunction with Second Annex, Part II, Sections 1 (b) and 1 (c) of the Federal Constitution, citing the equality provision of Article 8.
They also want a declaration that the children of these mothers should be granted the right to citizenship, and they want the court to order all government agencies to issue citizenship documents, identity cards and passports to all children born abroad. from Malaysia whose mothers are Malaysian citizens.
At a press conference later, Suri said that Family Frontiers wanted to hold the government accountable as it was a signatory to the United Nations. They also sought the government to review its reservations about international conventions that have called for legal gender equality.
She said Malaysia is one of 25 countries that have yet to allow women to pass on their nationality to their foreign-born children by default.
“In 2006, Indonesia reformed its nationality law to uphold comprehensive gender equality,” she said. “This makes Malaysia and Brunei the only Asean nations to maintain discriminatory citizenship laws on the basis of gender.”
He said that Malaysian women who applied for citizenship for their children were unprepared for the long, arduous and eventually fruitless struggle that it entailed.
“These requests take years and often end in denial without explanation.”
Malaysian mothers, stateless children
He added that these children are deprived of the basic rights that all Malaysian children have, such as education, health care and social protection.
One of the tearful plaintiffs, Adlyn, said her eight-year-old son deserved to be free from statelessness. “The only Independence Day he knows about is August 31,” he said. “The only national anthem he knows is Negaraku.”
She revealed that her attempts to apply for citizenship for her children have been futile at all times.
When traveling to visit his sick grandmother in Sarawak, his son’s condition required a quarantine before he could cross the borders. How could I leave my son alone in an unfamiliar place? What was I supposed to do?”
With her grandmother now bedridden, Adlyn fears that she and her son have missed their chance for one last reunion.
Meanwhile, her co-plaintiff, who prefers to be known as Myra, says she feels torn every time her daughter asks her why her passport is green and not red. “She is a sensitive and observant girl,” he said. “She tries to maintain a happy front for our benefit, even though she feels something is wrong.”
After applying earlier when her son was born, Myra said she tried to ask the Zimbabwean embassy for help, but to no avail. “I applied again, but so far there has been no response.”
Earlier this month, it was reported that Deputy Interior Minister Ismail Mohamed Said had cited national security concerns about why foreign-born children of Malaysian women married to foreign spouses cannot receive automatic citizenship.
It has been criticized by Noor Aziah Mohd Awal, Commissioner for Children of the Malaysian Human Rights Commission, and Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh.
