Why should this provision just deal just with 'WIVES' - and not neutrally with SPOUSES (both husbands and wives)?
A remnant from a patriarchal era - where women were seen as not being equal to men
Patriarchal (adj.) describes a general structure in which men have power over women. Society (n.) is the entirety of relations of a community. A patriarchal society consists of a male-dominated power structure throughout organized society and in individual relationships.Power is related to privilege. In a system in which men have more power than women, men have some level of privilege to which women are not entitled.
So, Article 5 provides rights to WIVES because the husband is a CITIZEN, but not to husbands of Malaysian WIVES - Should it not be REPEALED, or better still amended to include HUSBANDs of Malaysian Citizens? After all, does not Malaysia believe in equality of persons, and is against DISCRIMINATION based on GENDER?
This Article is now being amended by the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2024, where the First Reading was on 25/3/2024.
It proposes adding a NEW condition(c) that she has an adequate knowledge of the Malay language.”
What is 'adequate knowledge of the Malay language'? WHY is that language requirement even needed before one is accorded the right of citizenship by registration? A person in Malaysia can survive with or without the Malay language - or just simple communicable Malay language. So, is there any real justification for the requirement of 'adequate knowledge of Malay' - which is rather VAGUE - and may be abused by some officers against some applicants. [Or is the government contemplating certain language courses that need to be passed by the applicant]. In Malaysia, without Malay - people can survive as Malaysians have a grasp of many different languages...
Luckily, a similar language requirement was not placed on the CHILD.
Whether the child of a Malaysian citizen(wife or husband) applies to be registered as a Malaysian citizen, AGE really should not matter, should it? So even a 25 year old should be able to be registered as a Malaysian citizen... why accord the right now only to children below 21(and after the amendment below 18 years of age)
The Malaysian government MUST amend Art.15 to include Husbands.
The Malaysian government MUST amend Art.15 - and provide the right to citizenship by registration to any child of a Malaysian Citizen(be it wife or husband) irrespective of AGE.
The only condition should be that wife or husband is a Malaysian Citizen - hence maybe that 'a citizen at the beginning of October 1962' should be deleted.
Even the provision that ' has resided in the Federation throughout the two years preceding the date of the application' should be probably deleted as today - many people work overseas(and their spouses are with them), and even families where spouses may be working in different countries - so, the only condition is PROOF that the marriage is subsisting. A foreign spouse may have other 'family obligations' like looking after elderly or sick family members - so the fact that one was NOT continuously in Malaysia should not prejudice applications.
Likewise, many Malaysians also elect to send their kids overseas for studies, and it is not uncommon that one parent also go be with the kids overseas to take care of them.
In terms of FOREIGN SPOUSES of Malaysian citizens, they should immediately after the marriage has been registered in Malaysia be accorded 'Permanent Resident'[PR] status as of right. The right to citizenship can come after - but the PR status accorded to spouses of Malaysians must be different - it must automatically allow for employment, without any further need for application for permits/passes to enable them to be employed in Malaysia.
PR Status can be terminated with the DISSOLUTION of the Marriage generally - but there may be other factors that come into consideration before termination of PR Status including Malaysian children, or children studying in Malaysian education system, whether the said foreign spouse is still a citizen of another country or not, or whether there are some other reasons why the PR Status be retained - business, property, home acquired post marriage in Malaysia, etc..
15 Citizenship by registration (wives and children of citizens)
(1) Subject to Article 18, any married woman whose husband is a citizen is entitled, upon making application to the Federal Government, to be registered as a citizen if the marriage was subsisting and the husband a citizen at the beginning of October 1962, or if she satisfies the Federal Government—
(a) that she has resided in the Federation throughout the two years preceding the date of the application and intends to do so permanently; and
(b) that she is of good character.
(2) Subject to Article 18, the Federal Government may cause any person under the age of twenty-one years of whose parents one at least is (or was at death) a citizen to be registered as a citizen upon application made to the Federal Government by his parent or guardian.
(3) Subject to Article 18, a person under the age of twenty-one years who was born before the beginning of October 1962, and whose father is (or was at his death) a citizen and was also a citizen at the beginning of that month (if then alive), is entitled upon application made to the Federal Government by his parent or guardian, to be registered as a citizen if the Federal Government is satisfied that he is ordinarily resident in the Federation and is of good character.
(4) For the purposes of Clause (1) residence before Malaysia Day in the territories comprised in the States of Sabah and Sarawak shall be treated as residence in the Federation.
(5) The reference in Clause (1) to a married woman is a reference to a woman whose marriage has been registered in accordance with any written law in force in the Federation, including any such law in force before Merdeka Day, or with any written law in force before Malaysia Day in the territories comprised in the States of Sabah and Sarawak:
Provided that this Clause shall not apply where the woman applies to be registered as a citizen before the beginning of September 1965, or such later date as may be fixed by order of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and is at the date of the application ordinarily resident in the States of Sabah and Sarawak.
(6) (Repealed).
Constitution (Amendment) Act 2024
Amendment of Article 15
2. The Federal Constitution is amended in Article 15—
(a) in Clause (1)—
(i) in paragraph (a), by deleting the word “and” at the end of the paragraph;
(ii) in paragraph (b), by substituting for the full stop at the end of the paragraph the words “; and”;
and
(iii) by inserting after paragraph (b) the following paragraph:
“(c) that she has an adequate knowledge of the Malay language.”;
(b) i n C l a u s e ( 2 ) , b y s u b s t i t u t i n g f o r t h e w o r d s “twenty-one years” the words “eighteen years”; and (c) by deleting Clause (3).
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