Call to restore citizenship of stranded ex-Malaysians

2009/10/13

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has been urged to restore citizenship to the stateless Malaysians in Britain if they are victims of circumstances.

Bar Council Human Rights Committee chairman Edmund Bon said if the British government did not want to take them, then the best solution would be for the Malaysian government to give them back their citizenship.

"If they are willing to apply for Malaysian citizenship and can prove that they were born here and were Malaysian citizens before, then the government should take them back."

A lawyer, Latifah Koya, said it was strange that the people had renounced their citizenships without getting any confirmation from the British government on their application for new citizenship.

"We also have cases of people migrating to Australia and usually they don't renounce their citizenship until they know for sure or have confirmation of getting new citizenship."

She said if the people were ill-advised by shady lawyers, then they should lodge a police report against them.

Edmund Bon says they must be taken back if they are victims of circumstances

"This doesn't look like a normal application, but more like a syndicate."

She said the Malaysian government could choose to take back the people as the constitution protects citizens from being stateless.

In July this year, more than 100 Malaysian British Overseas Citizens (BOCs) staged a march in London as part of their campaign to lobby for British citizenship.

They are mostly from Penang and Malacca who had given up their Malaysian citizenship but later found themselves stateless as they are not entitled to British nationality.

It is estimated that there are about 500 BOCs in Britain who are in this situation after being misled into giving up their Malaysian passports as a route towards acquiring British citizenship.

These former Malaysians acquired BOC status by virtue of being born in Penang and Malacca before 1983 following an amendment to the British Nationality Act, which created a residual BOC category.