COMMENT | Regressive amendments: Children set up to fail

COMMENT | The government first disclosed its proposal to amend the Federal Constitution on citizenship rights in June 2023: Firstly to give Malaysian citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers as promised in the 2022 general election manifesto.

Secondly, which was the alarming part, additional amendments which effectively stripped away citizenship rights from certain groups of Malaysian babies and children.

The second part of the packaged amendments is widely referred to as the “regressive amendments” for very obvious reasons.

The proposal on the regressive amendments met with major pushback since its disclosure. For reference, the proposed list of regressive amendments has been set out on the 100Malaysians Instagram page.

Other than reports of statements by the government, I have yet to find an article or statement issued by any person to support or justify the government’s proposed regressive amendments...