PETALING JAYA: A coalition of NGOs and activists has launched a “counter-proposal” to the 2024 Citizenship Bill, scheduled to be tabled for second reading in the ongoing Dewan Rakyat meeting.
One of the proposed amendments under the bill will automatically confer citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers, but not apply retrospectively to existing children under the same parameters.Other proposed amendments will make it tougher to obtain citizenship, including lowering the age limit of childhood citizenship applications from 21 to 18 years and removing automatic citizenship for children of permanent residents born in Malaysia.
“ will impact stateless Indigenous Malaysians and their children, adopted children, children born outside of wedlock and those affected by inter-generational statelessness,” it said.