Sultan Of Johor: Govt Should Drop Appeal On Automatic Citizenship For Children Born Abroad Ruling

The Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar has urged the Federal Government to drop the appeal against the High Court’s decision to allow children born to Malaysians abroad to be granted citizenship automatically, regardless of the child’s mother or father.

He said in a statement on a Facebook post that all children of Malaysians born abroad must be given the right to citizenship in this country. He wrote,

“The sanctity of the court must be preserved. Why should a Malaysian mother who gave birth abroad have to experience discrimination? This is the fundamental right of every child born, regardless of whether the mother or father is a Malaysian citizen. There is something wrong when fathers and mothers are viewed differently from a legal point of view in matters related to their children’s citizenship. Do mothers and fathers have different Malaysian citizenship status?”

On September 9, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur ruled that children born to Malaysian mothers abroad would automatically be granted Malaysian citizenship. The media later reported that the Federal Government had filed a notice of appeal to set aside the decision.

Read more of his statement here:

Sultan Ibrahim said the government should not deny citizenship to those who are entitled, especially when Malaysia is now facing a serious problem of losing talented and qualified young people. He mentioned that in the spirit of the ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ pioneered by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the Attorney -General should immediately withdraw the appeal against the court’s decision.

Also read: “Gross injustice!” M’sians Slam Govt’s Decision To Appeal Ruling On Automatic Citizenship For Children Born Overseas