Citizenship law amendments ’10 steps backwards’, says Bar

[superadmin]

KUALA LUMPUR: The proposed constitutional amendments pertaining to the granting of citizenship are “10 steps backwards” and will not improve the statelessness situation, says the Malaysian Bar.

Its president Karen Cheah said citizenship is a basic human right and that the proposed changes may lead to more people becoming stateless by operation of law.

“I also read (home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s) statement that there are other avenues to actually apply (for citizenship), but realistically speaking, we know how it works,” she told FMT.

“The application may go in, (but) it will never get processed. They don’t hear anything from the national registration department (JPN) for years and years. So, it’s all actually window dressing.”

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