PETALING JAYA: Malaysian citizenship is the highest award conferred by the Federal Government and it cannot be arbitrarily offered and given to just anyone, says the Home Ministry.

       Its remarks came following a landmark ruling by the High Court on Sept 9 on the automatic granting of citizenship rights to babies born abroad to mothers who are Malaysian citizens married to foreign-born men.

       The ministry was responding in Parliament to Merbok MP Nor Azrina Surip who had asked why citizenship applications under Article 15(2) of the Federal Constitution for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers were routinely rejected by the ministry.

       The ministry said the application for citizenship is filed separately with different sets of supporting documents and information.

       “Consideration and assessment would also be done according to the needs, facts and circumstances of the case based on the information provided.

       “Terms laid out in the Federal Constitution only allow applications to be filed, but do not guarantee that the application will be approved.

       “It is stressed here that Malaysian citizenship is the highest award conferred and it is the Federal Government’s exclusive right, which is not offering it (citizenship) arbitrarily,” the ministry said in a parliamentary written reply dated Sept 15 (Wednesday).

       The ministry said every citizenship application it received would be processed on a case-by-case basis to ensure that terms laid out in Part III of the Federal Constitution and other relevant legislations were fulfilled.

       It also said the acquisition of Malaysian citizenship for individuals under 21 born abroad to a mother who is a Malaysian citizen and a non-Malaysian father is, by registration under Article 15(2) of the Federal Constitution, subject to compliance of terms under Part III of the Federal Constitution, and Citizenship Rules 1964, including enforced legislation in the issue of marriage registration, legal status of the child, and immigration regulations.

       “In this matter, considerations on citizenship application under Article 15(2) of the Federal Constitution also take into account the government’s policy of not recognising dual citizenship,” it said.

       The High Court ruled on Sept 9 on Malaysian women’s equal rights under the Federal Constitution, to confer citizenship automatically on their children born abroad to foreign fathers.

       High Court judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir, who made the decision in his judgment, said the word “father” in the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution must mean and include the “mother” and that children of Malaysian women born abroad are entitled to citizenship by operation of law.