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PETALING JAYA:  Tee Li Li’s only child is on the verge of becoming stateless, with the Federal Constitution still only guaranteeing citizenship to children of Malaysian fathers.

Wendy, not the child’s real name, was born in Italy in 2017 to Tee and her then-husband who was not an Italian citizen. Tee had been advised not to travel to Malaysia to give birth due to medical reasons.

“We did the Malaysian citizenship application (in Italy) but it was left pending with no updates. Yet I couldn’t leave my daughter stateless, so in the end she took her father’s citizenship,” the engineer said.

However, Tee and her husband later divorced, with him then saying he planned to renounce his citizenship and become a citizen of a third country, leaving Wendy in limbo.

Tee did not disclose her former husband’s country of origin, but told FMT that Wendy would automatically lose her current citizenship when her former husband renounces his.

She said this was confirmed by the embassy of the country her ex-husband and daughter presently belong to.

“When her father obtains his new citizenship in February, he cannot pass it to my daughter because I have full custody of her.

“However, I also cannot pass my Malaysian citizenship to her because we are still in Italy, so she is at risk of becoming stateless,” she said.

Tee is hoping that extreme cases like hers will be fast tracked by the government.

“The government needs to expedite processing of applications that were made years ago. I hope the government can amend the law to allow children to become citizens through their mothers, as it has already made this commitment,” she said.

In 2021, the High Court ruled that Malaysian mothers have equal rights to pass their citizenship to their overseas-born children.

On Aug 5, 2022, the Court of Appeal, by a majority of 2 to 1, overturned the landmark ruling by the High Court. The case is now pending in Federal Court.

On the same day, the appeals court also dismissed Mahisha Sulaiha’s appeal from a 2020 High Court decision rejecting her claim for a declaration that she was entitled to citizenship.

Mahisha was born in India to her Malaysian mother and Indian-national father.

In February, the Cabinet agreed to amend the Federal Constitution to enable automatic Malaysian citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers, with the amendment slated to be tabled in the following Dewan Rakyat sitting, but to date no change in the legislation has been made.

In the meantime, Tee remains hopeful that she can one day bring her daughter home.

“My daughter likes nasi lemak. She can count from one to 10 in Bahasa Malaysia. She can sing ‘Saya Anak Malaysia’, and she even knows batik because I showed it to her.

“I taught her Bahasa Malaysia because I wanted to prepare her to come home. She can speak Chinese, English, Bahasa Malaysia and also Italian. She is very talented, like all Malaysians.”

Running out of time

Family Frontiers Programme coordinator Sarah Czarina Mashanis said, other than children being left stateless, there were also other critical cases the government had to consider.

“Family Frontiers is urging specifically for the home ministry to pay more attention towards critical cases, such as single mothers, mothers in marital violence, mothers who have terminal illnesses, and also applications that were made in 2016 to 2017, because they have not even been processed yet.”

Sarah said this list was not exhaustive and there were also other considerations for these children and their parents, such as limited access to affordable healthcare and education.

Despite the various struggles and hurdles, Sarah said the mothers will continue fighting for the right of citizenship for their children, because Malaysia is home.

“They have family here and they want their children to grow up with Malaysian values, experience Malaysian culture such as the food, traditions, and festivities, while being surrounded by people they love in the culture their mothers grew up in.”