Malaysian Bar president disappointed over ‘disrespect’ of Federal Court in Kelantan’s re-enactment plans, condemns death threats against Nik ElinHome Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail today said the Cabinet has agreed to the tabling of the constitutional amendment to Malaysia’s citizenship law that could hamper some stateless children from becoming Malaysian.
Saifuddin further said that citizenship applications under Article 15A for stateless persons have a 98 per cent success rate and pledged to resolve the remaining 14,000 applications by December 31 this year.Last year, 11,500 citizenship applications under Section 19B, Part III, Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution were resolved, the minister said.
The effect of this amendment would be that foundlings and abandoned children will no longer be entitled to automatic citizenship. Experts have warned that the amendments could exacerbate the issue of statelessness among children in the country.