EQUALITY AND CITIZENSHIP FOR WOMEN IN MALAYSIA: WHERE AND WHEN?

Abstract

Malaysia has agreed that all men and women are accorded equal right to citizenship under the Federal Constitution. Article 14 (1) (b) and Part II of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution provide for citizenship by operation of law for every person born outside Malaysia whose father is at the time of the birth a citizen of Malaysia. However, a Malaysian woman can apply for her child to be registered as a citizen under Article 15(2) of the Federal Constitution. In this regard, the Government has enhanced the implementation of Article 15(2) by way of an interim administrative procedure that was implemented on 1 June 2010 and applies to children born overseas after 1 January 2010 to Malaysian women who are married to foreigners. The core analysis in this article is to examine whether Malaysian laws on women and their children’s rights to citizenship is harmonious with the Women’s Convention. We analyse whether Malaysia has taken all appropriate measures, including laws, policies, administrative decisions and programmes, to eliminate women’s disadvantages based on the principal areas of concern and recommendations of the CEDAW in the concluding comments made against Malaysia following the list of issues and questions in relation to the combined third to fifth periodic reports of Malaysia following the Sixty-Ninth Session in Geneva from 19 February to 9 March 2018 and the application of equality informed by the Women’s Convention.