KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim must not pretend to not know of the government’s proposals to change the Federal Constitution to deny Malaysian citizenship to orphans, abandoned children and stateless persons, human rights advocacy group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) said today.

LFL said that Anwar had yesterday — in his first public response to recent criticism on the proposed citizenship law changes — allegedly pretended to be ignorant of the issue by focusing only on the proposed amendments to enable automatic Malaysian citizenship for Malaysian mothers’ overseas-born children.

"He appears to have no inkling as to the gravity and the impact of the proposed amendments on the stateless, and this is baffling and unacceptable coming from the prime minister.

"Was Anwar not briefed on the issue by his officers or is he side-stepping the issue?” LFL asked in a statement today.

LFL said Anwar had said nothing yesterday regarding both the government’s proposed removal of a safeguard that protects people born in Malaysia from becoming stateless or its proposed removal of the rights of orphans and abandoned children to Malaysian citizenship.

LFL said these two proposed removals from the Federal Constitution by the government will result in a huge increase in stateless persons in Malaysia, and said the government’s proposed amendments are "unjustifiable” and "heartless and cruel”.

"Any reasonable person can see why the amendments are bad for the country, and much public criticism has been made in the past weeks by numerous stakeholders including Suhakam, a statutory body that advises the government on human rights.

"But the home minister has maintained a deafening silence and now the prime minister feigns ignorance by alluding only to the amendments on children born overseas to Malaysian mothers. If you were to listen to Anwar, it would seem that this is the only amendment being proposed,” it said.

LFL said Pakatan Harapan (PH) and particularly its leader Anwar had repeatedly promised to solve the problem of statelessness in Malaysia since they were in the federal opposition, and that the coalition must not abandon that promise now that they are in power.

"To do so is to betray the mandate that they have been entrusted with by the people for change and reform,” LFL said.

"As prime minister, the buck stops with Anwar. He must withdraw immediately those parts of the Home Ministry’s amendments which will jeopardise the lives and future of orphans, foundling and other stateless persons.

"Anwar must not preside over the creation of a large new class of stateless persons in Malaysia, which is what his government’s proposed amendments will certainly do. If the government proceeds with these amendments, Anwar will forfeit forever his claim to be progressive and a reformer,” LFL concluded.