1. ) FRANCIS D NETTO 2. ) NANCY D NETTO v 1. ) KETUA PENGARAH JABATAN PENDAFTARAN NEGARA 2. ) MENTERI DALAM NEGERI MALAYSIA 3. ) Kerajaan Malaysia

Case Significance

A significant illustration of citizenship by descent under Article 14(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution through a Malaysian biological father, holding that "one of the parents" can include the biological father where the parents were not married at the time of birth, so that the jus sanguinis requirement is satisfied.

This High Court decision at Kuala Lumpur concerns a claim to Malaysian citizenship by operation of law. The plaintiffs, a brother and sister, were born in Kuala Lumpur in the mid-1990s to a father who held a Malaysian identity card and a mother who held an Indonesian passport. At the time of their birth their parents were not married; the marriage was registered only later, and the father has since died. By originating summons the plaintiffs sought to be recognised as citizens of Malaysia by operation of law under Article 14(1)(b) read with section 1(a) of Part II and section 17 of Part III of the Second Schedule to the Federal Constitution. The central question was whether, where the parents were not in a legal relationship at the time of birth, "one of the parents" in section 1(a) could include the biological father, so that the requirement of jus sanguinis, citizenship by descent, was satisfied by the fact that the plaintiffs' biological father was a Malaysian citizen. The court also had to consider whether a later Federal Court decision had overruled the majority position in an earlier authority on this question. Resolving the issue in the plaintiffs' favour, the court declared that they are citizens of Malaysia by operation of law under Article 14(1)(b) and Part II section 1(a) of the Second Schedule. It ordered the authorities to reissue the plaintiffs' birth certificates and register them as citizens, and to issue each of them with a blue identity card, within fourteen days of service, making no order as to costs. The court's approach gives effect to the constitutional purpose of conferring citizenship on the children of a Malaysian parent by descent, reading the relevant provisions so that a biological father's citizenship is not defeated by the parents' marital status at the time of birth. The judgment is a significant illustration of citizenship by descent through a Malaysian biological father where the parents were not married at the time of birth.