Human rights activist Erik Paulsen accused the national registration department of causing Malaysians to be stateless through its bureaucratic and illiberal stance. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: The real victims of proposed citizenship amendments are Malaysians with permanent resident status, including the Orang Asli and Orang Asal, and not foreigners as previously claimed, according to a human rights advocate.
Lawyer Eric Paulsen accused home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail of having cited data that were “obviously untrue” when he said in March that the presence of 3.5 million foreigners in Malaysia was a basis to abolish automatic citizenship for children of permanent residents.
“The minister’s explanation doesn’t hold up,” Paulsen said in a post on X (formerly Twitter), accusing Saifuddin of fearmongering “without data and evidence to back up his claims”.
Paulsen said migrant children born in Malaysia would merely inherit the citizenship of their parents and would have no claim to Malaysian citizenship.
Erik Paulsen.
He accused Saifuddin of avoiding the real issue that the amendments would affect people born in Malaysia but who merely had PR status – such as Orang Asli, Orang Asal, as well as generations of Chinese and Indians.
“They are the ones who will be the most affected when these regressive amendments are made,” said Paulsen, a co-founder of the Lawyers for Liberty organisation.
Paulsen also advised MPs that any amendments to the citizenship laws should be improvements “and not make it worse”. He said Malaysia’s citizenship laws were “generally good” and in line with international standards.
“Our issues of statelessness are caused by the home ministry and national registration department bureaucracy and illiberal stance, not the laws.”
Among the provisions of the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2024 tabled for first reading in the Dewan Rakyat on March 25, is one that seeks to grant citizenship to overseas-born children of Malaysian women.
In July, Saifuddin said there were still some matters that needed to be refined, despite receiving positive feedback from the Conference of Rulers.
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