Don’t just ‘rubber stamp’ citizenship law amendments, Senate told

PETALING JAYA: Former senator Ti Lian Ker has called for the Dewan Negara to exercise its responsibility and not simply approve the proposed amendments to the citizenship provisions in the Federal Constitution.

Ahead of the bill’s expected debate in the upper house next month, Ti said several issues in the bill, particularly those related to statelessness, require deliberation and resolution before becoming law.

“(Senators should) not be seen as a ‘rubber stamp’ to the Dewan Rakyat which may have overlooked these issues,” he said in a statement today.

Ti advised his former colleagues to vote on decoupling the bill’s clauses, meaning that senators should vote on individual clauses separately.

“Support the amendments that uphold the rights of Malaysian mothers and reject the regressive clauses that will leave Malaysian children vulnerable and continuously being exploited or suffer untold sufferings due to their statelessness,” he said.

He also proposed referring the bill to a Select Committee for further scrutiny, allowing time for evidence-gathering from all stakeholders.

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2024 was passed in the Dewan Rakyat on Oct 16, with 206 MPs in favour and only one vote against.

The bill aims to grant citizenship to overseas-born children of Malaysian women and to lower the age limit for citizenship applications by registration from 21 to 18.

While the gender equality aspects of the bill have received widespread support, some concerns have been raised over provisions that could inadvertently perpetuate statelessness.

The proposal to remove automatic citizenship for children born to Malaysian permanent residents, along with the reduction in the age limit for citizenship applications, has sparked debate.

In his statement, Ti said: “These two amendments risk creating a cycle of multi-generational statelessness if future home ministers fail to implement standard operating procedures that align with the intent of the law.”

He warned that because SOPs are not directly controlled by Parliament, they could be applied inconsistently or even changed, and this may worsen the statelessness issue.

“These gaps, while seemingly minor, have profound implications and must be addressed,” Ti said.