prevents estimating the number of stateless people from the Bajau Laut community that Sabah hosts.33 According to the 2021 estimation by the Department of Statistics Malaysia, over 25% of Sabah's population consists of non-citizens, totalling approximately 995,400 individuals. Among them, around 250,000 are children ranging from 0 to 19 years old.34 27. The absence of birth registration poses a greater obstacle for parents, particularly in the Bajau Laut community, who face challenges due to high birth rates and rural isolation, in bestowing citizenship upon their children.35 ISSUE III. Gender Discrimination in Malaysia’s Citizenship Law 28. Despite the prohibition of discrimination based on gender being a fundamental principle enshrined in the Malaysian Federal Constitution, Malaysia’s citizenship laws contain several gender-discriminatory provisions. Malaysia received and took note of six recommendations on gender-equal nationality rights during its third Universal Periodic Review.36 29. Currently, Malaysian women do not have equal rights as men to confer automatic citizenship on their children born outside the country. Malaysian men can rely on Sections 1(b) and 1(c) of Part II of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution which state that a person born outside of Malaysia is a citizen by ‘operation of law’ if the father is a citizen. Malaysian women have to rely on Article 15(2) where citizenship is upon application, an arbitrary and inconsistent process filled with delays and a slim chance of approval. 30. The landmark Kuala Lumpur High Court decision in Suriani Kempe & Ors v Government of Malaysia & Ors, which initially granted Malaysian women equal citizenship rights, was later overturned in a 2-1 decision following the Government’s appeal. The case is currently pending at the Federal Court. In the meantime, the Malaysian Government has committed to table an amendment to the Federal Constitution in October 2023 to grant equal citizenship rights to children born overseas to Malaysian women.37 31. Children born outside a legally recognised marriage to Malaysian fathers and non-Malaysian mothers do not have the right to inherit Malaysian citizenship.38 This contributes to statelessness, particularly when the children cannot acquire the mother’s citizenship due to various reasons, such as the mother being stateless, their country of origin not allowing them to confer citizenship in certain circumstances or their identity is unknown or cannot be traced. 33 See Wan Shawaluddin Was Hassan and Diana Peters, ‘The Vulnerability of Bajau Laut as Stateless People in Sabah’ (2020) 26(2) Jurnal Kinbalu Bil 184, 34 Current Population Estimates by age and ethnic group, Sabah [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2021 Sep 15]. Available from: http://pqi.stats.gov.my/searchBI.php?tahun=2021&kodData=2&kodJadual=1&kodCiri=5&kodNegeri=12 35 Institute of Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI). "Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 31st Session of the Universal Periodic Review, Malaysia, Third Cycle, Nov 2018.” 29 Mar. 2018. https://files.institutesi.org/UPR31_Malaysia.pdf. 36 Recommendations 151.150 by Belgium; 151.151 by Haitil 151.152 by Kenya; 151.208 by Iceland; 151.219 by Sweden. 37 Dzulkifly D, ‘Govt to Table Amendment to Citizenship Act in Sept: Saifuddin’ The Vibes (23 March 2023) <https://www.thevibes.com/articles/news/88636/govt-to-table-amendment-to-citizenship-act-in-sept-saifuddin> accessed 26 June 2023 38 Section 17 of Part III of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution states that the term “parent” in the case of children born out of wedlock is to be interpreted as the mother. 8