More than 16k foreigners granted Malaysian citizenship

By Nuradzimmah Daim - 21 April 2015 @ 6:44 PM

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 16,702 foreigners had been granted Malaysian citizenship since 2004 until last year, Dewan Negara was told today.

Home deputy minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said of the total, 5,992 were from Indonesia, 2,374 from India, 1,409 from Thailand and 6,927 from other countries.

"The Federal Constitution allows citizenship to be awarded on marriage to only women foreigners who weds local men in accordance to Article 15(1) which states that any married women whose husband is a Malaysian is allowed to apply for citizenship. The woman must be staying in the country two years before the application process and intended to stay here permanently and must be on good behaviour.

"However, there is no provision in the Constitution for male foreigners who are married to local women to apply for citizenship. They are required to fulfil several conditions including permanent residency, good behaviour, no criminal record and are fluent in Bahasa Malaysia.

“The application can be made through neutralisation process under Article 19 of the Federal Constitution," he said in responding to a question by Senator Chia Song Cheng on foreign spouses who were successful in applying for citizenship.

On a different matter, he said the government does not allow hypermarkets and supermarkets to hire foreigners as cashiers.

"Thus, we urge the public to alert us if they see foreigners working as cashiers at these places so that checks can be carried out."

My comment
It is incredible in Japan to be granted citizenship by Federal Constitution. Of course, foreigner people often be granted Japanese citizenship by Federal Constitution. But Japanese Federal Constitution don't grant many foreigner people. I think that Malasya is tolerance against foreigner people. It is important for today's world.

http://www.nst.com.my/node/81243