Don’t pressure Home Ministry on automatic citizenship, PAS tells DAP

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — The DAP should not interfere with the citizenship process under the purview of the Home Ministry, PAS said today.

The Islamist party said that the ministry should be given some space in rectifying the loopholes in the procedure.

PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said DAP had been too aggressive in pressuring the ministry towards the amendment of Article 14 of the Federal Constitution, which would enable automatic citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian women.

“The Home Ministry should be given the space in updating the weaknesses in the citizenship process, which had resulted in corruption and abuse of power in the issuance of identity cards.

“The people are also worried over the issuance of citizenship to those who cannot communicate in Bahasa Melayu, when basic knowledge of the language and a test in Bahasa Melayu is a prerequisite to obtain citizenship,” he said in a statement today.

Tuan Ibrahim said the Islamist party urged the Home Ministry to catch the culprits involved in the MyKad syndicate as it is a dangerous issue and a betrayal to the nation.

“This is more dangerous than many other trivial issues that has been raised to mask controversies,” he said.

On Friday, DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang said his party has pledged its commitment to support a constitutional amendment that would enable automatic citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian women.

Children born outside of the country to Malaysian men are granted automatic citizenship under Article 14 of the Constitution, but for mother, the application for a child born outside Malaysia has to be registered under Article 15 (2).

The law is applicable to mothers who are married to non-Malaysians.

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