Where is Gender Equality?

SWWS
Sarawak Women for Women Society, Press Release - 8 August 2022

SWWS is astonished and appalled by the recent majority decision of the Appeal Court which denies Malaysian women married to foreigners the same rights as Malaysian men to automatically pass on their citizenship to their children born overseas. 

This overturning of last year’s High Court ruling which had agreed with the women has left those affected broken hearted and others bemused. 

Back in 2001 Parliament passed an amendment to Article 8 (2) of the Federal Constitutional stating that there would be no discrimination in Malaysian laws on grounds of gender.   Yet when the Federal Constitution itself is tested at the Appeal Court, two out of the three judges, gave precedence to the use of the word ‘father’, rather than ‘parent’, in Section 1(b) and 1 (c) in the Second Schedule which, as part of Article 14, specifies how citizenship is conveyed in such circumstances. 

SWWS shares the view of the third judge, Datuk S. Nantha Balan, who stated that the decision was “illogical, pervasive and degrading to the rights and dignity of Malaysian mothers.”  The decision negates the previous assurances that Malaysia protects within its Constitution women against discrimination. Such blatant gender inequality is against the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which Malaysia has signed and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), No 5 of which is to achieve gender equality. Malaysia’s non-compliance to these will be monitored with concern by the UN body.

It is hoped that when the mothers take their appeal to the Federal Court the majority interpretation of the Appeal Court judges will be rejected. However, rather than wait, women’s groups are calling for the Federal Constitution to be promptly amended so the word “father” is replaced by “parent” so the archaic, paternalistic wording is discarded and there is no room left for ambiguity.

This change is urgently needed as children’s lives, identity, schooling and access to affordable health care is affected.  The current system for mothers to apply under Article 15 (2) is notoriously slow. Recently in answer to a Parliamentary question, it was revealed that since 2018 to mid-2022,  3,407 applications under this category had been submitted but only 26 were given an answer. 19 were successful and 7 rejected.

The reasons for rejection are rarely given, so asking women to be patient and to use the existing channels is condemning children to a wait which could be longer than their lives. This is totally unacceptable.  For the sake of the children and their mothers this discriminatory action needs to be urgently halted. We call on all political parties to support amending the Constitution swiftly.