PUTRAJAYA (Oct 11): The Federal Court has deferred hearing the merits of Malaysian mothers appealing citizenship for their overseas-born children from Oct 25 to Dec 10.

The Federal Court changed the date earlier this week following case management before apex court deputy registrar Suhaila Haron.

The new date was confirmed by the Association of Family Support & Welfare for Selangor and Kuala Lumpur (Family Frontiers) and the affected mothers’ lawyer Abraham Au when contacted by The Edge.

This deferment follows a letter sent by the apex court to the parties last month which stated that the court is vacating the Oct 25 date and following case management on Wednesday (Oct 9), the new date of Dec 10 is fixed.

Mahisha Sulaiha Abdul Majeed and Suriani Kempe, who is the president of Family Frontiers, and six other mothers are appealing against the Court of Appeal decision on Aug 5, 2023 that reverses the High Court's landmark decision which granted citizenship to the children.

The respondents in the appeal are the National Registration Department (NRD) director general, the Home Minister, and the Malaysian government.

The appellate court in a two-to-one majority decision ruled that the word “father” in the Federal Constitution under the Second Schedule, Part II, Section 1(b) cannot extend to “mothers” and that only the Parliament can rewrite the Constitution for these amendments, in allowing the appeal by the minister, NRD and government.

“The court cannot in its own whim and fancy change the Constitution,” said judge Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said, who led the majority.

COA judge Datuk ES Nantha Balan, who was in the minority, ruled that the article of the Constitution was discriminatory in saying that the mother’s bloodline is “inferior” to the father's bloodline.

The mothers and Family Frontiers were granted leave (permission) on Dec 14 last year to have the merits of their application be heard in full after the respondents did not object to leave being granted.

There were several questions of law posed to the apex court for determination, including:

Besides these, two other questions are also allowed on the issue of dual citizenship, namely whether it has any bearing on the determination of citizenship, and concern Article 159 of the Federal Constitution, as well as whether it can be construed to prohibit the court’s powers to interpret on fundamental liberties and whether citizenship can be brought up during submissions on the case.

In addition to this, the federal government also intended to introduce the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2024 in Parliament which is expected to address the issue that is still pending.

One of the respondents’ arguments with regards to the children born overseas to Malaysian mothers is that changes to the Federal Constitution regarding citizenship provision need the approval of the nine Malay rulers.

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Merits of Malaysian mothers appealing citizenship for their overseas-born children to be heard in full