According to Malaysian laws, a Malaysian woman who marries a foreigner and gives birth overseas, her child is not granted automatic Malaysian citizenship. This obviously poses an issue to women, in this borderless world we live in.
A Malaysian woman fell in love and married a Syrian man, all was good until they had children, then the real struggle began - the fight for the Malaysian citizenship for her children. She has four children and the last one is stateless as he was born overseas, in Turkey.
The sad thing was that she had reached out to the Malaysian Embassy, the immigration department and other authority bodies for help, yet she received no response from them. Her husband couldn't apply for Syrian citizenship, due to political situations in his country. If processing citizenship for these children is difficult in Malaysia, what more in a country going through war? She felt betrayed when her own country made the whole process difficult. Any mother would be restless if their children are stateless and have no official identity.
According to Malaysian laws, Malaysian mothers who are married to non-Malaysian men will not have citizenship automatically granted to their children if the children are born overseas. They must apply for it.
The Malaysian Citizenship Laws 101
The Malaysian citizenship laws are part of the Federal Constitution. It’s covered in Part III under Article 14 to Article 31. Acquiring Malaysian citizenship is discussed in Articles 14 to 22. Some of the titles included in these articles are citizenship by operation of law, citizenship by registration and citizenship by naturalization. Malaysians commonly inherit their citizenship from their father through Article 14 which covers citizenship by operation of law.
Difficulties it poses to Malaysian women
There are many cases which illustrates how problematic this citizenship law is. From misinformation and inconsistencies provided by authorities abroad and at home to a very slow process.
There are plenty of examples to illustrate this, as in the case of a Malaysian woman, who married an American, had a daughter there then decided to move back to Malaysia. She wanted a Malaysian citizenship for her daughter and as Malaysia does not allow dual citizenship she did not apply for American citizenship for her daughter.
When she applied for it there were a lot of complications from the authorities to process her daughter’s application. On top of that, her husband could not secure a work visa and had to renew his social visit pass every six months. The mother could not enrol her daughter in public schools due to her lack of citizenship. She had to work twice as hard to secure an income, which eventually led to unforeseen circumstances in her marriage. She could only secure the citizenship for her daughter after three years of moving back to Malaysia and with a lot of hassle! Dissimilar to if she were a man, her child could have been born on the moon and her child would be granted citizenship.
The length of time for this process of granting citizenships to children born overseas of Malaysian mothers is too long compared to an automatic citizenship by a Malaysian father. This whole process seems to adhere to the understanding that only men can marry whomever they please and procreate but not women, but why? If this reflects based on religion the Malaysian constitution on this aspect is secular so this should not apply.
Mothers Not Explicitly Mentioned In Our Citizenship Laws
Another problem is the lack of Malaysian mothers being discussed in the citizenship laws. People commonly refer to the Federal Constitution, specifically Articles 14 to 19, for citizenship matters. Malaysian fathers who have married non-Malaysian wives overseas are specifically mentioned, as per Article 14(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution.
What about Malaysian mothers? Since they are lumped with the other categories in the articles beneath the 'citizenship by operation of law', it's as if only the Malaysian men get to enjoy the RFiD tag on the highway. As for the women? They're stuck queueing up in the cash lane.
The Sad Reality of the World We Live In
Malaysia is not the only country with unequal citizenship laws. More than 50 countries in the world have citizenship or nationality laws that aren’t in favour of the women. In some of those countries, the women aren’t only prohibited to change or maintain their nationality, they are sometimes refused education, health services and employment. In Malaysia, there are already up to 32,000 stateless children and with the pace of authorities, the numbers may still increase.
That’s why there have been calls to amend the citizenship laws in Malaysia. Almost all the Malaysian mothers who have gone through the process hoped that the authorities will amend the discriminatory law for a better one. What makes a Malaysian woman who married a foreigner less Malaysian from a Malaysian man who married one too?
Children Even Stateless Matter
These laws are not only problematic for the Malaysian mothers, it’s also an issue for the children. Since stateless children do not have citizenship, they cannot go to school or even look for jobs. Without citizenships, they have no identity. Without an identity, there isn't much that the children can do while living in Malaysia. It would be great if the children of these Malaysian mothers could still apply for citizenship from their father's country. But what if the father comes from a country of turmoil?
COVID-19 Makes Securing Citizenship Harder
Malaysian mothers are going to great lengths to secure Malaysian citizenship for their children. With the COVID-19 pandemic happening around the world, the unequal citizenship laws of Malaysia are further highlighted. Countries around the world went on lockdown and encouraged self-isolation. For pregnant Malaysian women who live abroad with non-Malaysian husbands, they face a conflict between citizenship and health risks.
If they stayed in those foreign lands and gave birth during the lockdown, their children wouldn't be granted automatic Malaysian citizenship. If they travelled back to Malaysia, they would expose themselves to the dangers of the pandemic and get infected. If the citizenship laws were fair in the first place, then these pregnant Malaysian mothers wouldn’t have to face this dilemma.
Let’s Start Mentioning the Mothers In Our Citizenship Laws
There are some suggestions that the Malaysian government should amend the citizenship laws. In Articles 14 and 15, it could replace the word ‘father’ with ‘father or mother’ and make the citizenship automatic for children of both Malaysian men and women. Malaysians of both genders will have equal privilege for citizenship and the hassle for citizenship registration will be reduced. Malaysian mothers will no longer be subjected to lengthy registration processes, inefficient management and restless waiting.
Dual Citizenship, Possible in The Future?
Another way to solve this citizenship problem is by allowing dual citizenship. There are a few countries in the world that allow dual citizenship; Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the US, the UK and many more. Malaysia, unfortunately, is not one of them.
Under the Malaysian Federal Constitution, Article 24 (1) covers that Malaysians can have their Malaysian citizenship renounced if they have a foreign citizenship. Although these laws were practiced for good reason previously, it is time to consider adding dual citizenship in the regulations to avoid more stateless children. Plus, allowing dual citizenship would be helpful for Malaysian women living abroad giving birth during a pandemic.
Better Processes to Be Implemented
Another solution to the citizenship problem is implementing better management at the offices. Amending laws is a delicate procedure and would take years before it becomes official. If the laws can't be amended, Malaysian mothers would still need to register for citizenship for their child born overseas.
Many of the personal experiences from Malaysian mothers have the same problems repeated - the process takes too long, documents go missing and must be resubmitted, interviews get delayed, and so on. The waiting list for them can get longer due to bad paperwork and staff inefficiency. The only way to counter this is to ease the process as much as possible.
All government agencies involved with the citizenship matter must have strict policies for their staff to get the job done. With stricter regulations or deadlines, processing citizenships shouldn't take too long.
Malaysian women shouldn't have to go through this anymore. It is time for Malaysia to wake up and smell the discriminatory laws. Malaysian women work and travel abroad just as much as Malaysian men do. So, they should also be granted the same rights as Malaysian men for their children to receive automatic Malaysian citizenship. If not, Malaysian laws will still be gender-biased for future generations.
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