KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Women chief Kho Teck Wan has pledged to persistently advocate for an amendment to the Federal Constitution regarding stateless children.
She contends that the current law, found under the 2nd Schedule, Part II, Section 1(b), discriminates against Malaysian women by granting automatic citizenship solely to the overseas-born children of Malaysian fathers.
“In my opinion, the word ‘father’ in the Federal Constitution under the 2nd Schedule, Part II, Section 1(b) should also include mothers, entitling their children to citizenship. Without amending the Federal Constitution, our citizenship law continues to discriminate against Malaysian women,” she emphasised in a recent social media post.
Kho highlighted a significant court decision in September 2021 that granted citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers with foreign spouses. However, the government filed an appeal against this ruling.
“Despite overwhelming public support urging the government to withdraw the appeal, our efforts were unsuccessful. In August 2022, the Court of Appeal denied automatic citizenship to overseas-born children of Malaysian mothers with foreign spouses,” she lamented.
Kho expressed her determination to persistently advocate for the amendment of the Federal Constitution until the gender bias in citizenship laws is rectified.
Earlier, Kho assisted a grandmother and a father in initiating the application process at the National Registration Department (NRD) to secure citizenship for their undocumented grandchildren. This would enable the children to attend school and access public medical services.
“Before the announcement made by Women, Early Childhood, and Community Wellbeing Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah in February this year, stateless children faced difficulties in accessing education and medical services. With the spirit of #NoOneLeftBehind, stateless children who have initiated the citizenship process can now avail themselves of medical and educational benefits using the reference number of their citizenship application as identification, regardless of the status of their application,” she explained.
Kho acknowledged that there are various reasons why a child may be stateless, with two common scenarios being: a child born in Malaysia to an unmarried couple where the mother is an undocumented foreigner, and a child born in Malaysia out of wedlock to an undocumented/foreign mother and a single Malaysian father legally married to another woman.
“Please note that the citizenship application process is serious, lengthy, and challenging, with no guaranteed outcome. Therefore, it is crucial to be a responsible adult and avoid creating stateless children. By hook or by crook, get married before the child is born. A child born in Malaysia or overseas can be registered as a Malaysian when the parents are legally married, and the father is Malaysian,” Kho advised.
She further explained that in the second scenario, while it is challenging, if the married father and his legal wife can adopt the stateless child, they can initiate the citizenship process once the adoption is successful. Alternatively, if the child’s Malaysian grandparents are still alive, they can legally adopt the child and file for citizenship through the grandparents.
