In Parliament, the Home Minister assured MPs that the amendments will not affect the abovementioned groups, but there was no clear or satisfactory explanation of how this would be the case. Further, even if there are political remedies provided for such groups, it is counter-intuitive and in contravention of Malaysia’s international law obligations, to create a problem by stripping people of their right to acquire a nationality, and subsequently assure them that a political solution will be presented. Citizenship through PR status was also a route for the Bajau Laut community, a stateless seafaring community in East Malaysia, who are ineligible for naturalisation, to obtain citizenship. However, due to the amendments, this option will now be unavailable. As reported in the media, the Home Minister estimates that there are 30,000 persons born in Malaysia with PR and with no citizenship; they have no entry permits or foreign travel documents. They comprise of the following groups: those who have been living in Malaysia since before independence in 1957 or the formation of Malaysia in 1963, and children who have been adopted but have not applied for citizenship. Out of these, 10,000 have already applied for citizenship. While the Minister has assured that he will resolve the citizenship issues affecting the 30,000 individuals, it is imperative that the Government implements effective safeguards and timely pathways to citizenship to prevent risk of statelessness among children. 3. LOWERING OF THE AGE LIMIT FOR CITIZENSHIP APPLICATION FROM 21 TO 18 Under the current legal framework, stateless children in Malaysia are able to apply for citizenship before they turn 21. The amendment will lower this age limit to 18, effectively removing three years from the available time for a stateless child to apply for citizenship. The rationale of the Malaysian government was to lower the age limit in order to be consistent with the lowered voting age as well as the definition of a ‘minor’ in the Child Act 2001. However, it fails to take into account that citizenship applications with the National Registration Department (“NRD”) can take many years, even decades to process, often only to receive a rejection without any explanation and no further recourse, after the age limit threshold has been crossed, due to no fault of the applicant. Whenever there is an age limit attached to a citizenship process, there will be individuals who are excluded due to not meeting this criterion. This could be due to the arbitrariness and delays of authorities, the ignorance or negligence of the parents or guardians of the child, or due to practical barriers. When the objective of a legal provision such as this, is to ensure that a person entitled to citizenship is able to acquire it, imposing age limits runs contrary to this objective. Therefore, good practice is to eradicate age limits, or to – if imposing age limits – ensure meaningful and comprehensive safeguards to protect those who fail to comply. By reducing the existing age limit instead of eradicating it, and failing to provide any safeguards, this amendment will only heighten the risk of statelessness. Therefore, this is a significant step backwards for the protection of children’s rights in Malaysia. Malaysia is signatory to the CRC and has a duty to protect all children’s access to nationality (Article 7), and other basic rights such as access to healthcare (Article 24) and access to education (Article 28).