MalayMail-Feb 19
Advocacy group Family Frontiers and the Malaysian government will look into settling a court case on Malaysian citizenship issues, ahead of the Federal Court’s March 10 hearing of the constitutional challenge which has gone on for more than four years. In this court case, Family Frontiers wants the Federal Court to hear and decide on three legal questions, including whether Malaysian mothers’ overseas-born children should also be entitled to be Malaysians automatically. Family Frontiers had also asked the court to decide if the Federal Constitution’s prohibition of gender discrimination also applies to Malaysia’s citizenship laws, which currently only allows Malaysian fathers’ overseas-born children to become Malaysians automatically. The Federal Court was initially expected to hear the case on December 10 last year, but then fixed January 27 to wait for updates on settlement efforts. While Family Frontiers and six affected Malaysian mothers had in December 2020 filed the court challenge together, Au confirmed that the six mothers would not be part of the settlement talks. This is because the six affected mothers’ overseas-born children have since been recognized as Malaysian citizens while the court case was still ongoing. This has been a long drawn-out case, with Family Frontiers first winning in the High Court in September 2021, with the judge deciding that Malaysian mothers’ overseas-born children are entitled to Malaysian citizenship automatically. But the Court of Appeal in a 2-1 decision in August 2022 overturned the High Court decision, and the Federal Court in December 2022 allowed Family Frontiers to pursue its appeal. This is the appeal that is now scheduled for the Federal Court’s hearing on March 10. Read more at:
