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CHILDREN born overseas to Malaysian women married to foreign men, who were under 18 prior to last year's amendment to the citizenship law, can now apply for citizenship through registration.
This after the Federal Court today documented a consent order following an out-of-court agreement between the Association of Family Support & Welfare Selangor & Kuala Lumpur (Family Frontiers), six Malaysian mothers, and the Malaysian government.
According to reports in The Edge, this resolves a long-standing legal dispute regarding this citizenship matter.
The order specifies that all children born abroad to Malaysian mothers with foreign spouses, who are under 18, can now register for citizenship under Article 15 (2) of the Federal Constitution.
This means that the new Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2024, which was passed last year, will also be applicable retrospectively to those born before the amendment was enacted in October last year.
Their applications for citizenship will be governed by Article 26(1) of the Federal Constitution, along with compliance to Article 15 (2), which includes the required supporting documents.
These articles, among others, pertain to the registration of citizenship.
According to The Edge, the Bill still needs to be officially gazetted into law.
A five-member panel, led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, which includes Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, and Federal Court judges Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan, Datuk Nordin Hassan, and Datuk Hanipah Farikullah, recorded the order.
The appellants were represented by Datuk Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar, while senior federal counsel Liew Horng Bin was for the government.
At the start of the court proceedings, Gurdial mentioned that both sides had been in deep discussions to resolve the issue.
"Since the last hearing, the AGC and the solicitors have been in serious negotiations. We've come to an agreement on terms to settle this case and will be withdrawing the appeal," he stated.
The appellants were challenging the Court of Appeal's decision from August 2022, which stated that children born abroad to Malaysian women married to foreign partners were not automatically entitled to Malaysian citizenship.
In a split decision, the Court determined that the term "father" in the Federal Constitution's Second Schedule, Part II, Section 1(b) does not include "mothers," and only Parliament has the authority to amend the Constitution.
The Court of Appeal's ruling favoured the appeal from the Home Affairs Ministry, the National Registration Department, and the government, overturning a significant High Court decision.
The High Court had previously ruled in September that Article 8(2) of the Federal Constitution, which addresses equality, prohibits gender discrimination, implying that "father" in Section 1(b) should also refer to mothers.
Following this, the government proposed amendments to the Citizenship Law. - March 10, 2025
