Malaysian nationality law

The front cover of a contemporary Malaysian passport.

Malaysian nationality law is the law of Malaysia that deals with citizenship and other forms of nationality. Nationality law is mentioned in the Constitution of Malaysia.

History

Citizenship law was first implemented in several Malaysian states before the country achieved independence and sovereignty. The Straits Settlements, consisting of Penang, Malacca, Singapore and later Labuan, was the first entity to introduce nationality laws in the region. The Naturalization Act of 1867 stated that:

any person, whilst actually residing in the Colony, may present a memorial to the Governor in Council, praying that the privileges of naturalisation may be conferred upon him.

It also provided that:

such memorial shall state to the best of the knowledge and belief of the memorialist, his age, place of birth, place of residence, profession, trade or occupation, the length of time during which he has resided within the Colony, that he is permanently settled in the Colony, or is residing within the same, with attempt to settle therein.

Requirements

The criteria to be a Malaysian citizen are:[1]

  1. Every person who immediately before Merdeka Day 1957 (31 August), was a citizen of Malaysia by virtue of any of the provisions of the Federation of Malaya Agreement, 1948, whether by operation of law or otherwise
  2. Every person born within Malaysia on or after Merdeka Day and before October 1962
  3. Every person born within Malaysia after September 1962, of whose, at least, one parent was at the time of the birth either a citizen or a permanent resident in Malaysia, or who was not born a citizen of any other country
  4. Every person born outside Malaysia on or after Merdeka Day whose father[2] was a citizen at the time of his birth and either was born in Malaysia or was at the time of the birth in service under the Government of Malaysia or of a State
  5. Every person born outside Malaysia on or after Merdeka Day whose father was a citizen at the time of the birth if the birth was, or is, within 1 year of its occurrence or within such longer period as in any particular case was or is allowed by the Malaysian Government, registered at a consulate of Malaysia or, if it occurred in Singapore, Sarawak, Brunei or North Borneo, registered with the Federal Government
  1. Every person born within Malaysia of whose parents one at least is at the time of the birth either a citizen or permanently resident in Malaysia and
  2. Every person born outside Malaysia whose father is at the time of the birth a citizen and either was born in Malaysia or is at the time of the birth in the service of the Federation or of a State and
  3. Every person born outside Malaysia whose father is at the time of the birth a citizen and whose birth is, within 1 year of its occurrence or within such longer period as the Malaysian Government may in any particular case allow, registered at a consulate of Malaysia or, if it occurs in Brunei or in a territory prescribed for this purpose by order of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, registered with the Malaysian Government and
  4. Every person born in Singapore of whose parents one at least is at the time of the birth a citizen and who is not born citizen otherwise than by virtue of this paragraph and
  5. Every person born within Malaysia who is not born a citizen of any country otherwise than by virtue of this paragraph

Gaining citizenship

A person can become a citizen of Malaysia either by registration or naturalisation. In cases by registration, where a person is by operation of law is a citizen but have yet to be registered, such person is entitled to citizenship upon application and be registered as a citizen of Malaysia. For cases by naturalisation, this refers to the process of admitting a person not a citizen of Malaysia to citizenship. This is subjected to the requirements and conditions of the Federal Government. Any person holding Malaysian citizenship is also disallowed to hold any other country's citizenship. Malaysia does not allow dual citizenship.

Those applying for citizenship by registration must have "an elementary knowledge of the Malay language". Those applying to become naturalised citizens must have "an adequate knowledge of the Malay language" and have resided in the country for ten of the past twelve years, including the twelve months immediately preceding the application. These requirements are set out by Part III of the Constitution; however, as there is no objective definition of what constitutes elementary or adequate knowledge of Malay, in practice, the tests are often subjective, sometimes even varying in whether a written knowledge of Malay is required.[3]

Permanent residency in Sabah and Sarawak

Permanent residency in the states of Sabah and Sarawak are distinct from the other 11 Malaysian states. While Sabah and Sarawak each has autonomy in immigration affairs (which includes imposing immigration restrictions on Peninsular Malaysia residents), permanent residents of Sabah and Sarawak are exempted from the immigration controls of their own states. A Malaysian citizen born to a Sabah or Sarawak permanent resident would have Sabah or Sarawak permanent residency, regardless of where the person was born. Birth in Sabah or Sarawak alone does not make a person a permanent resident unless one of his/her parents is a permanent resident. A person may become a Sabah or Sarawak permanent resident by obtaining Permanent Residence (PR) status issued by the respective state immigration departments. The permanent residency status of a person is indicated by a letter on his/her MyKad below the photo, with H for Sabahans, K for Sarawakians, and none for Peninsular Malaysians.[4] A similar scheme is also used in Malaysian passports, differentiated by the letter prefix of the passport number:H for Sabahans, K for Sarawakians, and A for Peninsular Malaysians.

Commonwealth citizenship

All Malaysian citizens are Commonwealth citizens and are entitled to certain rights in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries. For example, they can vote in all elections (including for the European Parliament), hold public office and serve on juries in the UK. Malaysians are entitled to consular assistance from British embassies in non-Commonwealth countries without a Malaysian representative.

These rights include:

Penang and Malacca

Several early independence acts did not contain any provision for the loss of citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies by citizens of the newly independent states. A notable case is that of the former Settlements (colonies) of Penang and Malacca in what is now Malaysia. These were combined in 1948 with the nine Malay states (which were protected states rather than colonies) to form the Federation of Malaya. On independence on 31 August 1957, British protected persons (BPP) from the Malay states lost their BPP status. However, as a result of representations made by the Straits Chinese, known as the "Queen's Chinese", it was agreed by the Governments of the United Kingdom and Malaya that no provision should be made for the withdrawal of Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC) status from the inhabitants of Penang and Malacca, who would consequently be allowed to remain CUKCs as well as citizens of Malaya.[8]

On 16 September 1963, the colonies of North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore were joined with Malaya to form Malaysia (Singapore subsequently left Malaysia in 1965). CUKC was withdrawn from those acquiring Malaysian citizenship in 1963, but this did not affect existing citizens of the Federation.

Hence, persons connected with Penang and Malacca prior to 31 August 1957, together with those born before 1983 in legitimate descent to fathers so connected, form the largest group of British Overseas citizens (estimated at over 1 million). Most also hold Malaysian citizenship.

Travel freedom

Visa requirements for Malaysian citizens

As of April 2017, Malaysian citizens had an overall score of 156 on the Global Passport Power Rank, ranking the Malaysian passport 4th in the world according to the Visa Restrictions Index.[9]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Constitution of Malaysia 1957". CommonLii. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  2. ↑ It is starting on 1 June 2010, for a child was born outside Malaysia or inside Malaysia, the child would acquire Malaysian citizenship as long as the child's father or mother is Malaysian citizen at the time of birth. http://www.kln.gov.my/web/chn_guangzhou/birth_marriage_cert
  3. ↑ Wu, Min Aun & Hickling, R. H. (2003). Hickling's Malaysian Public Law, p. 33. Petaling Jaya: Pearson Malaysia. ISBN 983-74-2518-0.
  4. ↑ NRD: 'H' indicates holder is a Sabahan, Daily Express, 5 June 2010 Archived 21 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ "Judgments of the Court in Cases C-145/04 and C-300/04 – Kingdom of Spain v United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" (PDF). The Court of Justice of the European Communities. 12 September 2006. Retrieved 18 December 2007.
  6. ↑ Representation of the People Act 1983, Section 4(6)
  7. ↑ Electoral Administration Act 2006, Section 18
  8. ↑ Hansard, HC Deb 13 November 1972. vol. 846, cc. 24-5W
  9. ↑ http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/04/19/malaysian-passport-fourth-most-powerful/

References

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