KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 — A health and social policy think tank has expressed concerns that the proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution’s citizenship provisions will worsen the healthcare situation for the stateless and their children, exposing them to increased health security risk and vulnerabilities.
Galen Centre for Health & Social Policy chief executive Azrul Mohd Khalib said the proposed amendments, if passed, will remove the existing citizenship rights for stateless people.
He said the amendments will cause harm, exacerbate suffering, and widen the health disparity and inequity gap amongst those already vulnerable, where most would be infants.
“In many countries, the stateless are automatically stripped of the capacity to access basic rights, among them, the right to health.
“This can and will happen even to children,” Azrul said in a statement today.
He was responding to Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s statement on March 8 announcing plans to proceed with amendments to the Federal Constitution regarding citizenship.
Azrul said in Malaysia, both public and private health services are generally accessible to all, even if a person is of undetermined status.
However, he pointed out that real life access and care is altogether different for stateless people.
“Such individuals and their caregivers would be subject to paying non-citizens fees at public hospitals and more likely pay out of their pockets for medical treatment.
“It is not likely that they would have health insurance and sickness or injury, however minor, could be costly and prohibitive.
“As a result, those who are stateless or caring for such individuals may be fearful of having to pay higher hospital and treatment bills,” he said.
Azrul said such a financial burden could deter the stateless from seeking care until it becomes necessary, leading to increased health risks and costs.
He added that these people also encounter racism, discrimination and xenophobia while trying to access critical health services or information.
“The stateless face huge obstacles and barriers to accessing services that many of us take for granted. For stateless individuals, every instance of ill health could be a life-and-death situation,” he said.
Azrul said the regressive nature of the proposed amendment requiring foundlings (infants who are abandoned by their parents and later cared for by others) to be registered within one year, would deprive children of citizenship due to parental, third-party neglect, or bad luck.
He called for the five proposed amendments to be decoupled and to be voted on separately.
“The Cabinet and parliamentarians need to base their decisions on compassion, dignity, common sense and humanitarianism,” he said.
Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim expressed his confidence that the Dewan Rakyat will pass the amendment proposal to the Federal Constitution pertaining to citizenship, which is slated to be tabled this month.
However, the Malaysian Bar has restated its position that certain regressive amendments to the Federal Constitution regarding citizenship should be halted.
Following that, the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has called for another study to be conducted so that citizenship issues can be tackled holistically.
The commission called for the proposed amendments on citizenship to be drafted from a bilateral perspective, preserving Malaysia’s sovereignty while also considering the outcomes to reduce stateless children.
