Judge Akhtar Tahir fixed the verdict date after hearing oral submissions from lawyer Gurdial Singh Nijar who represented the seven plaintiffs in a virtual proceeding today.

Assisting the senior lawyer were Joshua Andran and Abraham Au, while federal counsel Liew Horng Bin appeared for the government.

Gurdial submitted that the Constitution must be read harmoniously to give full and meaningful effect to the equality provision in Article 8 of the Constitution.

He said the court ought to arrive at an interpretation that met the present needs and dire circumstances of Malaysian mothers.

“Malaysian women ought to be allowed the right to confer citizenship to their children born overseas,” he said.

Family Frontiers and the mothers had filed the suit to get the court to declare several provisions – namely Article 14(1)(b) and Sections 1(b) and 1(c) under the schedule of the Constitution – invalid because they discriminate against women.

They claim that the Constitution only allowed a father to pass his citizenship to his children born outside the federation, but a mother could not do so.