kementerian dalam negeri, malaysia

On the court record

The Ministry of Home Affairs, litigating citizenship by operation of law under Article 14(1)(b), public-service discipline, and the state's tort liability subject to the Public Authorities Protection Act 1948.

Kementerian Dalam Negeri, Malaysia (the Ministry of Home Affairs) appears in the corpus as a respondent or defendant in disputes touching citizenship, public-service discipline and the state's liability, across constitutional, administrative and tort law. The matters run through the High Court and Court of Appeal.

Citizenship by operation of law is a recurring subject. In one matter the court considered an application for a declaration that an adopted child be recognised as a citizen of Malaysia and for mandamus to issue a MyKad, examining whether the requirements of jus soli and jus sanguinis were fulfilled. A related Malay-language matter concerned citizenship under Perkara 14(1)(b) Perlembagaan Persekutuan (Article 14(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution) and the Second Schedule, in the case of a child born out of wedlock to a mother whose marriage was registered late, distinguishing a foundling from a stateless child. These are among the most consequential status questions in Malaysian public law, determining a person's very membership of the state.

Discipline and the state's liability also feature. In a judicial review the applicant sought certiorari to quash a dismissal after having pleaded guilty to drug-related offences and been bound over on a bond of good behaviour under section 173A of the Criminal Procedure Code. In a road-accident claim the issues included the obligation to give way to an emergency vehicle on official duty under the road-transport rules and the highway code, and whether an immobile plaintiff who did not need round-the-clock care could claim for full-time nursing. In another matter the court dismissed a claim as statute-barred under both the Limitation Act 1953 and the Public Authorities Protection Act 1948, awarding costs of RM80,000. The Ministry's footprint spans the constitutional questions of citizenship and the more ordinary contests over discipline, accident liability and the statutory protection afforded to public authorities.