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KOTA KINABALU – Sabah Pakatan Harapan (PH) Chairman Datuk Christina Liew applauded the government's decision to amend the federal constitution and enable children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and non-Malaysian fathers to gain automatic citizenship by law.
The Sabah tourism, culture, and environment minister said the move was an equal rights victory for Malaysian mothers with foreign spouses who have been crying out for decades for their children born abroad to be granted automatic citizenship.
“We applaud this resolution to a long-standing citizenship issue that has caused a great deal of anxiety and stress to Malaysian women concerned.
“It took a unity government under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to reach this monumental decision.
“We uphold this as an advancement of the principle of gender equality, which stipulates that all persons are equal before the law, as enshrined in the federal constitution.
“As far back as 2000, women’s groups in the country, including the Confederation of Sabah and Sarawak Federations of Chinese Women Associations (of which I was honorary president), had urged the government to abolish discriminatory laws against women.
“In 2020, I had also called on the government to repeal laws unfair to Malaysian women after a few of Sabah’s cases were brought to my attention,” she said in a statement today.
In her National Women's Day message last year, Liew had lamented that Malaysian women continued to face gender bias, despite an amendment to Article 8(2) of the federal constitution in 2001 to prohibit gender discrimination.
She advised affected Malaysian women in Sabah to keep abreast of the latest developments as the Federal Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2023 will be expected to be tabled in the current Parliament meeting after fulfilling legal requirements, as stated by the two ministers.
“Mothers concerned must quickly follow up on their children’s applications once the amendment bill has been tabled and passed in the Dewan Rakyat," said the former Tawau MP.
Their children will then be able to enjoy equal access to education and healthcare as other Malaysian kids, Liew added. –The Vibes, February 19, 2023
