Divided Opinions Regarding New Amendments To Citizenship Law
The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2024 brought some welcome changes and also “regressive” ones.


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The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2024 was unanimously passed on 17 October in the Dewan Rakyat with a majority of 206 MPs voted in support.
The Bill introduces significant changes to Malaysia’s citizenship laws. Some Malaysians laud the changes while others think some of the changes were regressive.
Now that the Dewan Rakyat has passed the Bill, it still has to be passed by the Dewan Negara, receive royal assent, and be gazetted to take legal effect.
What are the changes?
Following the amendments, Section 1(b) and 1(c) of Part II of the Second Schedule states that children born abroad to Malaysian women with foreign spouses would now qualify for automatic citizenship. Previously, only Malaysian men got to pass on their citizenship to their offspring.
Section 1(b) also requires parents to register their overseas-born children within a year of their birth.
Under Section 1(a) of Part II of the Second Schedule, children born to permanent residents (PR) in Malaysia no longer have automatic citizenship. They will now inherit their parents’ nationality and will need to apply for Malaysian citizenship if they wish.
Meanwhile, Articles 15(2) and 15A reduce the age limit to apply for citizenship to 18 years old from 21 to be consistent with the lowered voting age. This reduces the time a stateless child can apply for Malaysian citizenship by 3 years.
Amending 15A also meant that it matches the definition of a minor in the Child Act 2001.

Under Article 26(2), foreign spouses who secured citizenship through marriage will now have this revoked if the marriage ended within two years of becoming Malaysian. Previously, citizenship was revoked if the marriage ended within two years of them marrying.
In addition, the Bill contains a new section – Section 3 – which will be listed in Part II of the Second Schedule. Section 3 requires anyone under the age of 18 who acquired their Malaysian citizenship by operation of law to take an oath when they turn 18.
The oath is to be known as the “Oath of Renunciation, Loyalty and Allegiance” under another new amendment in the First Schedule.
The Bill also proposes to add a new clause in Article 18 with the introduction of Article 18(1A), where a person under the age of 18 who is a Malaysian citizen by registration is required to take the oath upon turning 18.
Failure to do so within 48 months of turning 18 will result in the person losing their Malaysian citizenship.
The new amendments also mean that any newborn child found abandoned without protection in any place shall be presumed, until proven otherwise, to have been born in that location and the mother is a citizen.

Criticisms are coming in
Certain groups such as Family Frontiers welcomed the Bill amendments but found the removal of automatic citizenship for children of permanent residents to be a regressive move.
Meanwhile, Yap Xiang, the vice-chief of PKR’s student wing, Mahasiswa Keadilan Malaysia, resigned from the party after the Dewan Rakyat passed the amendments.
On Twitter, Yap said the Home Ministry and National Registration Department officials did not take the engagement sessions seriously and only held the meetings to meet the basic requirement of consulting stakeholders.
Yap claimed he was given silly answers to his questions such as “There are no stateless Orang Asli anymore, just migrants pretending to be stateless.”
Former Padang Serai MP, N. Surendran, was one of the critics of the amendments. He said the new law was “most useless and damaging and disgraceful” because it doesn’t help existing cases of foreign-born children to Malaysian mothers.
He added that the removal of automatic citizenship for Malaysian PR’s kids would create a new class of stateless Malaysians. He claimed Pakatan Harapan MPs have betrayed everything they once fought for as countless kids will suffer now.
A netizen, Wong Kukui, was also displeased with the changes. He pointed out how Nik Nazmi, the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, showed sympathy for the stateless people like the characters in Abang Adik film but he had changed his tune with the changes to the citizenship laws.
A most useless & damaging & disgraceful new law. Doesn’t help existing cases of kids born overseas to Msian moms & creates new class of stateless M’sians wit removal of citizenship 4 PR’s kids. PH MPs betrayed all they once fought for. Shame! Countless kids will now suffer. https://t.co/RPvhHGrGdE
— N.Surendran (@nsurendrann) October 17, 2024
Pindaan ini akan menjejaskan lebih ramai lagi anak2 PR holder yang tidak lagi boleh mendapatkan kerakyatan secara automatik. Akhirnya, golongan ini akan menjalani kehidupan seperti watak dalam movie Abang Adik. Syabas @niknazmi 👏🏽
— Wong Kukui (@WongKukui) October 17, 2024
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