Court Throws Out Govt S Bid To Dismiss Citizenship Suit By Ngo 6 Mothers

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Members of Family Frontiers, the mothers and their legal team after a previous hearing at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has ordered a full hearing of the lawsuit filed by an NGO and several individuals to declare certain provisions on citizenship under the Federal Constitution as discriminatory.
Judge Akhtar Tahir dismissed the government’s bid to strike out the suit, on grounds that it is not frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of court process.
“In short, I’m disallowing this striking out. For this matter, there seems to be discrimination against the mother (in passing her citizenship to her children) but there is no justification for it,” he said.
The court also ordered the government to file its affidavit in response to the suit before May 27.
The NGO Family Frontiers and six mothers had filed the suit to get the court to declare several provisions – namely Article 14(1)(b) and Sections 1(b) and 1(c) under the Second Schedule of the constitution – as invalid as they are discriminatory against women.
They claimed that the constitution only allows a father to pass his nationality to his children born outside the federation, but a mother cannot do so.
Akhtar also said the court will hear the merits of the case on June 30, after the NGO and government have filed their submissions.
Speaking to reporters after the decision, lead counsel Gurdial Singh Nijar said the court also granted their application to include the home minister and the National Registration Department’s director-general in their suit.
“We want them to be directly accountable for any decision that might be made by this court. The AGC (Attorney-General’s Chambers) has been ordered to provide its justification through an affidavit and we will reply accordingly,” he said.
Meanwhile, Family Frontiers president Suri Kempe said the group and the mothers were pleased with the court’s ruling.
“We are excited because our voices can be heard,” she said.
Segambut MP and former deputy minister Hannah Yeoh, who was also present to support the parties, urged the home minister to prioritise citizenship reform, instead of politicking.
She said there are citizenship applications pending and causing the affected children, who are seeking citizenship, to miss schools.
Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching described the decision as a “good Mother’s Day present”.
The former deputy education minister also urged the ministry to take a more humane approach in allowing children, who are stateless due to pending citizenship applications, to attend schools.
“We don’t want this and the MCO to affect their studies,” she said. - FMT

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