At approximately 5PM in the evening yesterday, a moment of monumental history was made when a constitutional amendment on citizenship was passed surpassing two-thirds majority in Parliament.
This Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2024 revises Malaysia’s citizenship laws, namely children born abroad to Malaysian women with foreign spouses will now qualify for automatic citizenship, as was already the case for children of Malaysian men. This ends decades of struggle and injustice for Malaysian women fighting to confer citizenship to their children.
This amendment comes after a string of court cases brought by the Family Frontiers Organisation, Suriani Kempe, and six other women, against the Malaysian government in 2021. All of which gained the unwavering support of members of the DAP such as Sdri Hannah Yeoh, Sdri Teo Nie Ching and also members of the public.
Even before the year 2021, Sdri Hannah Yeoh was already made aware of the issue as she attends the Malaysian Campaign for Equal Citizenship forum. At the time she was Deputy Minister for Women, Family and Community Development. After which, she has shown support for the group in attending court cases, repeatedly commenting on the issue and also attending a press conference together with organisers of the group as shared via her Instagram.
Another amendment to the citizenship law is that Article 15A will now bring the age limit for citizenship applications down from 21 years’ old to 18, to be consistent with the lowered voting age as well as the definition of a minor in the Child Act 2001.
Congratulations the MADANI government! A historic win for all of us.
