Malaysia’s children - WHEN might a parent not be a parent?

Malaysia’s children

WHEN might a parent not be a parent?

From what can be surmised from the home minister’s reply in Parliament to a question regarding Malaysian-born children who are denied Malaysian citizenship, a parent is only a parent if the birth father and the birth mother are officially married (proved by registration in Malaysia) at the time of the child’s birth.

In the context of whether or not a Malaysian-born child could be granted citizenship by virtue of his or her parent being a Malaysian citizen, the minister probably did not mean it to be a denial of genetic fact; but, if the state officially does not recognise parental connection, then, isn’t it the same thing? The argument may work from the Muslim perspective, in which paternal nasab (lineage) is not recognised if the parents are not married at the time of the child’s birth. But that is a specific religious issue, not a national one; and it surely should not be applied across the board.

In particular, the minister highlighted the problem of non-Muslims who married “China dolls” or kept concubines (and thus, were not officially married to these women), as well as polygamous Muslim men who got married north of the border and had failed to register the marriage in Malaysia (and thus, were not officially married). The children of these unions can, therefore, potentially be denied Malaysian citizenship. However, the problem does not lie with the law, but rather, with its interpretation. As the NST’s regular letter writer, S. Sundareson, a former registrar of citizenship at the National Registration Department, wrote, “The parents’ marital status has no bearing on the citizenship status of the child,” and, as such, it is “imperative that the provisions in the Constitution are not given a narrow interpretation, and so, deny lawful citizens of their birthright”.

The reason that marriages must be registered and made official is primarily to protect wives and children. But if a couple is careless enough to not register or to not marry, should the children be punished for the errors of the parents? A child who is not a citizen cannot go to school; a child who does not go to school does not have a future. And these will be the adults of Malaysia’s future. Granting citizenship to a child should not be seen as a gift accorded to parents, but rather, as an acknowledgement of the child’s birthright (not merely a “privilege”). The minister said that “when children are born, regardless of their race, religion or skin colour, they are a white cloth. It is their parents who put colour into their lives”. However, in this instance, the government surely wields an even greater paintbrush.