KUALA LUMPUR: The opposition today wants the citizenship amendment to be referred to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC).
Opposition chief whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan said the move would also allow relevant stakeholders and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) ample time to review and come up with better solutions pertaining to citizenship legislation in the country.
"Why not hold (the amendment) and give ample time to NGOs the time to come up with suggestions so we can make a complete amendment once and for all?" he told a press conference held in parliament's media centre, today.
Takiyuddin also claimed that certain provisions related to citizenship were not included in the final draft of the blue bill, contrary to the brief given to them during the engagement session by Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
This included issues related to foundlings and stateless children, he said.
"We were told that with the amendment proposal, foundlings will only be granted citizenship through registration and force of law.
"This is why we want an explanation of why the draft of the bill differs from the explanation provided to us.
"The government itself proposes an amendment and we had agreed to the previous proposal. Why the sudden change?"
Following this, he also believes that there was pressure towards Saifuddin from certain quarters due to different bills presented.
"The cabinet obviously gave him the go-ahead to brief us (the opposition) before he did so. Why has he revised the proposal for the amendment?
"We do not want to mention who but we presume he received pressure from certain quarters either in the government or in the cabinet itself. That is our presumption."
Earlier, Saifuddin tabled the first reading of the amendments to the Federal Constitution (FC) relating to several provisions on citizenship in the Dewan Rakyat sitting.
According to the blue book, the bill will accord equal rights to a child born overseas to Malaysian mothers. Prior to the amendment, a child born overseas would only acquire citizenship automatically if the father was a citizen of Malaysia.
The bill also seeks to amend Section 19B of Part III of the Second Schedule of the FC to provide that any newborn child found exposed in any place shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown, to have been born there of a mother who is a citizen.
Saifuddin on Friday announced that two proposed amendments to the constitution pertaining to the citizenship of foundlings would be dropped.
He also said the decision to drop the two proposed amendments was made after taking into consideration all inputs following intensive engagement sessions with all stakeholders.
The two proposed amendments that were dropped are Section 19B Part III of the Second Schedule and Section 1(e) Part II of the Second Schedule.
The proposed amendment under Section 19B of Part III of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution would have involved an amendment of citizenship by "operation of law" to citizenship by "registration".
The proposed amendment under Section 1(e), Part II of the Second Schedule read together with Article 14 was also related to the above changes.