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Hooray! The Cabinet has agreed to amend the Federal Constitution to enable children born abroad to Malaysian mothers to gain automatic Malaysian citizenship.

The announcement was made in a joint statement yesterday by Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Law and Institutional Reform Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said who added that the amendment is expected to be tabled in the current Dewan Rakyat sitting.

They said the Cabinet had that the proposed amendments seek to address the long-standing citizenship dilemma of children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and non-Malaysian fathers, enabling them to become Malaysian citizens by operation of law, meaning automatically without having to apply to be one personally as is the current situation.

The proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution on this matter is to replace the word whose father in Part I and Part II of the Second Schedule with the words at least one of the parents to enable Malaysian mothers to receive their just rights according to the Federal Constitution.

The Federal Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2023 will next be expected to be tabled in this Parliament meeting after fulfilling legal requirements, the two ministers said.

The move is seen as an effort by the government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to update Malaysias laws which affect gender equality and children's rights.

The Federal Constitution currently only provides automatic citizenship for children born overseas to Malaysian fathers, while Malaysian mothers are required to apply for their overseas-born children to be registered as Malaysian citizens with no guarantee of success.

The only difference for such overseas-born children is whether their Malaysian parent is a father or mother.

This is despite an amendment to Article 8(2) of the Federal Constitution in September 2001 to stop gender discrimination.

Thousands of Malaysian mothers have experienced waiting for several years to even get a reply from the government on whether their children born abroad can be registered as Malaysians, only to be rejected without being given any reason.

They can only repeat the application process under Article 15(2) of the Federal Constitution until the child hits the age limit of 21 years old.

Amendments to the Federal Constitution would require support from two-thirds of lawmakers in Parliament, and would have to go through the process of being voted through in the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara and receiving royal assent and being gazetted before taking effect as law.