PUTRAJAYA: The proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution on citizenship matters will be presented to the cabinet on March 8.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the government would then decide to go ahead or further review it before the bill is tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.
"Whether or not the bill will be tabled in this sitting would depend on the cabinet's decision on the matter.
"We have engaged stakeholders including legal experts and activists, taking into consideration their views and suggestions," he said in a press conference at the ministry today.
Some non-governmental organisations have called for further study on the proposed amendments to the constitution as they said they appeared to be regressive by taking away what applicants and their children are entitled to under the present framework.
The proposed amendment will among others subject children 'found exposed in any place' and foundlings including abandoned children to discretionary citizenship and place the burden of proof on the child as to their parentage.
Meanwhile, some NGOs have questioned the government's decision to push through with the bill despite opposition to the amendments.
"Was there even one supporting the government's regressive proposal to take away citizenship rights from the various groups of Malaysian babies and children and to cast them as 'stateless'?," said National Human Rights Society (Hakam) deputy president Robyn Choi.
"No indication has been given by the government that they have revised the original proposed regressive amendments.
"If they proceed with tabling the same proposed regressive amendments, that is a first step towards state violence."
Johor Women's League (Jewel) president Thanam Visvanathan-Suresh said it was gravely concerned about how the amendments would negatively impact the rights of foundlings and abandoned children, as well as children born out of wedlock to Malaysian fathers, to a legal identity.
"Why take away that little glimmer of hope and protection presently enshrined in the Federal Constitution?
"The fate of our children should not be doomed purely by the 'lottery' of their circumstances," she said.