Now, MPs warned that Putrajaya's constitutional amendments are unconstitutional

A rights lawyer has warned MPs that the draft constitutional amendment bill to grant automatic citizenship to children born to Malaysian mothers abroad is unconstitutional due to a clause stating that the amendments will only apply to those born after the amendment is passed.

N Surendran reminded MPs of their duty to reject  any unconstitutional law, adding that this was only possible if they acted according to their conscience.

"They must not let the parliamentary party whip emasculate their sense of right and wrong," said Surendran, himself a former MP and part of rights group Lawyers for Liberty group.

He said the bill tabled by Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution on Monday violated Article 8, which states that “all persons are equal before the law”.

This is because Clause 12 of the bill states that only children born after the amendments come into effect will automatically be granted Malaysian citizenship.

"Thousands of existing stateless children born to Malaysian mothers overseas will remain stateless. They will receive no benefit from the new amendments despite the government’s repeated promises that the amendments are made to resolve their citizenship woes.

"In short, after all the promises, they have been cheated once again," Surendran said.

Saying Putrajaya's action was "tainted by a motiveless malignity", Surendran said that the government would lose nothing by including the existing children in the new amendments.