(3A) Without prejudice to the generality of Clause (2), the exercise
of a vote in any political election in a place outside the Federation
shall be deemed to be the voluntary claim and exercise of a right
available under the law of that place; and for the purposes of
Clause (2), a person who, after such date as the Yang di-Pertuan
Agong may by order appoint for the purposes of this Clause—
(a) applies to the authorities of a place outside the Federation
for the issue or renewal of a passport;
(b) uses a passport issued by such authorities as a travel
document, shall be deemed voluntarily to claim and exercise
a right available under the law of that place, being a right
accorded exclusively to the citizens of that place.
Citizens by registration and naturalisation are generally at higher risk
of deprivation of nationality as they are subject to more grounds for
deprivation of citizenship, which citizens by operation of law are not
subject to. The grounds for deprivation of citizenship that had been
acquired by registration or naturalisation are outlined in Table 9. Children
and wives are at risk of statelessness as they may be deprived of their
citizenship because their citizenship is conditional on their parents’
citizenship status (Article 26A) and the status of their marriage (Article
26 (2)). Other groups at risk of statelessness are activists or human rights
defenders, who are citizens by registration or naturalisation, who can be
deprived of citizenship by conducting an act or speech of disloyalty (Article
25 (1)). These deprivation of nationality provisions should be amended
to include safeguards against statelessness to allow children and wives
to retain their citizenship status in the event that their parent or spouse
loses their citizenship.
Only the federal government has the power to deprive a person of their
citizenship under Article 24 if it is satisfied that the person has voluntarily
acquired and exercised their right to a citizenship of a foreign country. As
stated by Wong (2020), this was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in The
Speaker of Dewan Undangan Negeri of Sarawak Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia
Awang Nassar v Ting Tiong Choon & Ors. (2018):
63