LETTER | Mothers of overseas-born children crying out for help

Dear Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim:

LETTER | When it was announced this February that the cabinet had agreed to amend the Federal Constitution to enable children born abroad to Malaysian mothers to gain Malaysian citizenship by operation of law, there was a cry of elation and tremendous relief within our network of affected mothers.

This amendment, when it comes to pass, will change the lives and fates of Malaysian women and their non-citizen children, and ensure that no one else will have to bear the brunt of this unequal law which has caused painful separations, deep uncertainty, and harm in situations of domestic abuse or marital separation.

However, this sense of hope was dampened when the tabling of the amendment in Parliament was delayed until September, to give time for a six-month study by the committee on citizenship.

We concur that issues of national importance require careful consideration, but this gender-unequal citizenship issue is a long-standing one, and one that has been raised and persistently made known to relevant government agencies from as early as 2018.

These delays directly impact us. With each passing day Danial, an impacted child who is now an adult, becomes one day closer to having to leave the country; Siti (real name withheld for privacy) spends one more day trapped in marital violence; Shahana, who has special needs, is pushed further away from the healthcare she urgently needs; Omar, a stateless child, continues to languish without the fundamental rights that come with legal status.

Lengthy waiting times

Ours is not a cry of impatience, but a cry of desperation.

Recently, the Home Ministry announced its target to process 10,000 citizenship applications this year. We welcome this move as the majority of us have applied for citizenship for our children under Article 15(2) of the Federal Constitution.

However, the outcomes we have seen have only underscored how highly insufficient this route is due to its discretionary nature, lengthy waiting times, and lack of transparency. There are at least three mothers who discovered in April 2023 that their applications were rejected three years ago. During those three years, they had made status checks with the Home Ministry and the National Registration Department and were told their cases were ‘still being processed’.

In the case of rejections, no reasons are ever given. The lack of any explanation leaves mothers in the dark as to why they have been denied. The mothers mentioned above have waited for eight long years. Many of us have waited even longer than that. And many of us are still waiting.

We would also like to refer to the home minister’s recent statement that citizenship applications are rejected when applicants have never lived in Malaysia. While we are unsure if this is a criterion when considering Article 15(2) applications for Malaysian mothers and their children born outside Malaysia, we would like to point out that rejection based on the criterion of never having lived in Malaysia is unfair.

There are complex and varied reasons why Malaysian women may be living overseas with their non-citizen children. Some are abroad for employment, and some have relocated as their non-citizen spouses are unable to obtain employment in Malaysia on a long-term social visit pass due to restrictions.

There are also those who are forced to remain abroad or are unable to return home to Malaysia due to the lack of protection and access to fundamental matters for their children, including healthcare, education, and other basic services which will have long-lasting consequences on their lives.

Unnecessary burdens

There are also mothers who have moved back to Malaysia to put down roots and raise their families, who have also received rejections after waiting for many years. We face many obstacles and bureaucratic issues in raising our non-citizen children in this country, which have caused unnecessary burdens and strains.

It is essential to remember that behind every application is a child whose future and well-being depend on Malaysian citizenship. We are more than just a pile of documents on the ministry’s desk. Behind every application is a child whose life is on hold.

The mothers in our network would be most grateful for an opportunity to meet with you and share our lived realities. This would be an opportunity to have your ear on the ground and for all involved to have a deeper understanding of the issue.

This government has the power, and the duty, to ensure the protection and care of the well-being of its citizens — Malaysian women and their children.

Granting Malaysian women equal citizenship rights for their overseas-born children is putting the concept of ‘Ihsan’ into action, which will in turn give true meaning to ‘Malaysia Madani’. Please do not delay and deny us any longer. Embrace our children into the fold as citizens and let them live wholly as Malaysians because their mothers are Malaysians.

Sincerely and with hope,

Malaysian Mothers Network for Equal Citizenship

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