Citizenship

Citizenship involves both rights and responsibilities. Citizens are guaranteed such privileges as the right to vote, the right of free speech, and freedom of religion. Citizens are also expected to obey laws, serve on juries, and perform other duties.

Citizenship is full membership of a nation or of some other unit of government. Citizenship is also called na­tionality. But nationality usually has a wider meaning and implies a right to protection by one's own country when visiting another country. Almost all people have citizen­ship of at least one country. Citizens have certain rights, such as the right to vote and the right to hold public of­fice. They also have certain duties, such as the duty to pay taxes and to defend their country.

People who are neither citizens nor nationals of a country are aliens there. Most aliens are citizens or na­tionals of one country who are travelling or living in an­other. Many aliens have a permit called a visa allowing them to visit or live where they do not hold citizenship. Illegal aliens are noncitizens living in a country without proper papers.

The word citizen comes from the Latin word civitas, meaning membership of a city. Today, citizenship refers mainly to membership of a nation.

What it means to be a citizen?

The rights of citizens differ from nation to nation. Many nations have constitutions that provide for basic rights known as civil rights. They include freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly (the right to gather peacefully for political or other pur­poses). Citizens of many countries have the right to vote for a government and the right to travel freely through­out their country. But in some countries these rights still do not exist.

The rights of citizens have some limits. In order to vote, a citizen must be registered and must have reached the minimum age. In many countries this age is 18. Freedom of speech does not allow a person to tell lies that damage a person's reputation.

The duties of citizens, like citizens' rights, differ from nation to nation. Most governments demand that citizens pay taxes, defend their country, and obey its laws. Some governments require certain citizens to serve on juries. In some countries, it is compulsory to vote in certain elections.

Many people believe that citizens also have duties not demanded by law, such as voting, even when it is not compulsory, learning about public problems, and pro­tecting the environment in which they live. Many of these duties go along with rights. For example, the duty to vote comes with the right to vote. The duty to learn about public problems comes with freedom of speech and of the press, which protect the open discussion of public events and the exchange of ideas.

Aliens must obey the laws of the country in which they are travelling or living, except for those that bind only citizens. In addition, aliens must obey some of the laws of their homeland. For example, an alien working in a foreign country may still have to pay taxes to his or her own country as well as to the government of the country in which he or she is working. Travellers who break the laws of a country they are visiting may be put on trial and fined or imprisoned. Many nations grant diplomatic immunity to aliens who represent foreign governments. Diplomatic immunity is a set of special rights granted to the representatives of foreign governments and to the representatives families and staffs. In many countries, these rights include freedom from arrest, search, and taxation.

Ways of becoming a citizen

Nations have various laws that govern the granting of citizenship. People become citizens in two ways: (1) by birth and (2) by naturalization.

Birth. Most people become citizens of a country sim­ply by being bom there. The right to citizenship in the country of one's birth is called jus soli, a Latin phrase that means right of soil. The laws of many nations grant citizenship based on jus soli. Some nations limit jus soli to children whose parents already have citizenship of that nation. Some nations also deny jus soli to certain groups of persons. Such persons include children who are born in a country where their parents are serving as diplomatic representatives. Persons denied jus soli also include babies born to refugees (persons who have been forced from their homeland by war or some other difficulty).

Some countries use another rule of citizenship in­stead of jus soli—or in addition to it. This rule provides that the citizenship of children is determined by the na­tionality of one or both of their parents, no matter where the children are born. The right that a child has to citi­zenship in the country of its parents is called jus sanguinis. This legal phrase is a Latin term that means right of blood.

Naturalization is the legal process by which foreign­ers become citizens of a country they have adopted. Each nation sets requirements that aliens must meet to become naturalized. For example, they may be required to live in their new country for a number of years. Many nations naturalize only people who understand the rights and duties of citizenship and can use the national language. Some nations require aliens to give up citi­zenship in their homelands if they wish to become natu­ralized.

Dual citizenship

Some people hold citizenship of two nations. The condition of being a citizen of two nations is called dual citizenship or dual nationality.

Some people gain dual citizenship by birth. For exam­ple, a baby born to a French family visiting the United States would have U.S. citizenship by jus soli. The baby also would have French citizenship by jus sanguinis. People whose parents are citizens of two countries might have dual nationality by jus sanguinis.

Some people have dual citizenship as a result of natu­ralization. For example, a nation might allow its natural­ized citizens to keep their original citizenship. Such per­sons could claim citizenship in two countries. Or, a nation might refuse to allow its people to give up their citizenship. People who declared that they no longer were citizens of such a country and became naturalized in another still would be claimed as citizens by the origi­nal nation.

Citizens of Commonwealth countries are all Com­monwealth citizens and therefore are not aliens in any other Commonwealth country. Flowever, they do not necessarily have citizenship of other individual Com­monwealth countries. Although the Republic of ireland is not part of the Commonwealth, under British law Irish citizens are not aliens.

The loss of citizenship

Expatriation is the act of giving up one's citizenship in a country. It also means the act of taking away a per­son's citizenship of a country.

Statelessness is the lack of citizenship in any coun­try. Children of alien parents are born stateless if the country of their birth does not grant jus soli and the par­ents' homeland does not grant jus sanguinis. People can become stateless by giving up citizenship of one coun­try without gaining citizenship of another.

Some people become stateless as a result of govern­ment action. For example, a government might punish citizens by expatriating them, leaving them stateless. In 1935, the German government led by the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler expatriated all Jews living in Germany. Many other people become stateless when their homelands are destroyed by war.

History

The idea of citizenship developed in the cities of an­cient Greece and Rome about 700 B.C. The early Greeks and Romans thought of cities mainly as communities,

rather than as geographic places. These communities consisted of citizens linked by such ties as friendship, family relationships, and participation in government. Not all the people had citizenship. For example, ancient Greek and Roman cities denied the right of citizenship to slaves.

The rights of Greek citizens included owning land and taking part in government. Their duties included voting, attending the government assembly, sitting on juries, and giving military service.

The special rights of Roman citizens included owning property, making contracts and wills, and suing for damages. As the Roman government expanded its rule, Roman citizens travelled to other lands to fight wars, rule territories, and conduct business. They kept all their special rights when they travelled anywhere in the Roman Empire. The government also began to grant Roman citizenship to people who had never lived in Rome. In A.D. 212, the government granted Roman citi­zenship to most people throughout the empire, except for slaves.

During the Middle Ages, which lasted from about the late 400s to about 1500, citizenship remained connected with cities. By this time, people thought of cities mainly as geographic places where people lived. During the 1500's and 1600's, nation-states developed. As a result, people began to think of citizenship as membership of a nation. The people of many of these nations gave their loyalty to a king or queen and were often called sub­jects.

During the 1700's, democracies began to develop. People living in democracies gave their loyalty to the na­tion instead of to the nation's ruler. As a result of this change in allegiance, the terms citizen and national began to replace subject. Related articles: Bill of Rights, Nationalism, Civil rights, Nationality, Illegal alien, Patriotism, Immigration, and Voting.

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Living without nationality

By Baher Kamal - 

NST/November 30, 2017 @ 10:49am

MILLIONS of people around the world who are deprived of their identity are living without nationality. Their total number is by definition unknown and their only “sin” is that they belong to an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority in the country where they have lived for generations.

These millions of human beings are victims of continued discrimination, exclusion and persecution, states a United Nations refugee agency’s report released this month, calling for “immediate action” to secure equal nationality rights for all.

“Stateless people are just seeking the same basic rights that all citizens enjoy. But, stateless minorities like the Rohingya often suffer from entrenched discrimination and a systematic denial of their rights,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on the launch of the report, “This is our Home: Stateless minorities and their search for citizenship”.

“Imagine being told you don’t belong because of the language you speak, the faith you follow, the customs you practise or the colour of your skin. This is the stark reality for many of the world’s stateless. Discrimination, which can be the root cause of their lack of nationality, pervades their everyday lives — often with crippling effects,” says Grandi.

The report notes that more than 75 per cent of the world’s known stateless populations belong to minority groups.

“Left unaddressed, their protracted marginalisation can build resentment, increase fear and, in the most extreme cases, lead to instability, insecurity and displacement.”

Based on research prior to late August when hundreds of thousands of Rohingya — the world’s “biggest stateless minority” — began fleeing Myanmar to Bangladesh, the report reminds that their situation is nonetheless illustrative of the problems that years of discrimination, protracted exclusion and their impact on citizenship status can lead to.

“In recent years, important steps have been taken to address statelessness worldwide. However, new challenges like growing forced displacement and arbitrary deprivation of nationality threaten this progress. States must act now and they must act decisively to end statelessness.”

The report shows that for many minority groups, the cause of statelessness is difference itself: their histories, their looks, their language and their faith.
“At the same time, statelessness often exacerbates the exclusion that minority groups face, profoundly affecting all aspects of their life — from freedom of movement to development opportunities, and from access to services to the right to vote.”…

BR1M comes in handy for millions

PETALING JAYA: Zaimi Sabtu barely earns enough to cover his family’s monthly expenses.

Working as a clerk for a private company, he only earns about RM1,500 and towards the middle of each month, he struggles to make ends meet.

imes, his wife Noor Zuriaty Rani will resort to taking up part-time jobs to support the expenses of their three schoolgoing children – two boys and a girl aged 12, 13 and 15 respectively.

“Basic necessities don’t come cheap nowadays and prices of certain items are also on the rise due to various factors.

“In 2012, our situation started to improve slightly. We got some extra cash to spend on sundries and groceries, thanks to the Government,” recalled Zaimi.

That year, the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) scheme was introduced as a direct cash aid, disbursed to Malaysians who meet certain criteria.

All households with a monthly income of RM3,000 and below were eligible for a one-off sum of RM500.

According to records, a total of 4.2 million recipients benefited from the aid in 2012, involving a sum of RM2.1bil.

The following year, BR1M 2.0 was introduced and expanded to cover single working adults aged 21 and above with a monthly salary of RM2,000, who were given RM250.

This payout involved a disbursement of RM2.9bil from the Govern­ment’s coffers for 6.8 million recipients.

Then came BR1M 3.0, with some seven million people entitled for the aid.

The one-off payment was further raised to RM650 for households earning RM3,000 and below, while those with an income of between RM3,001 and RM4,000 were allotted RM450.

Single individuals earning RM2,000 a month got RM300.

In 2015, the amount was increased to RM950 and RM750 respectively. Single working adults got an extra RM50.

This exercise saw RM5.3bil set aside to benefit a total of 7.4 million recipients.

Last year, the Government revised the aid for households to RM1,000 and RM800 respectively, while single individuals received RM400 each.

In addition, a new category was introduced which saw those in the e-Kasih database given RM1,050 each.
In all, BR1M 5.0 resulted in the Government disbursing RM5.4bil to 7.3 million recipients.

For BR1M 6.0 this year, households with RM3,000 and below were given RM1,200.

Poor families grateful for extra cash

PETALING JAYA: For the past three years, Manimaran Mariappan has been a happy and contented man.

Before that, he found it difficult to put food on the table due to his meagre income.

As a lorry attendant, the 35-year-old earns just RM800 a month – hardly enough to raise his six children.

The youngest child is three months old and the eldest child is 14. Four of them are schooling, while the other two still need to be breastfed.

“I am not educated and I don’t want my children to be like me,” he said.

Manimaran said he did not know that he could apply for direct cash aid from the Government until MIC came forward to help him.

Indera Mahkota MIC division chief Datuk V. Udaiyappan @ Morgan took it upon himself to fill up the form for the family upon being told of their plight.

He also visited them at their wooden house several times to check on the application.

The family finally got the approval in 2014 and now benefits from the cash aid like many others…