Is a Maldivian who decides to give up Islam still a Maldivian citizen?
A common false statement associated with the Maldivian Constitution goes like this.
The moment ur faith in Islam is gone ur no longer a Maldivian as per the constitution.
This is a completely false statement. Certain organizations and individuals feel the need to feed this fallacious statement in order to achieve their various political and or social agendas.
Our Constitution is easily accessible to anyone and a statement like this could be verified within five minutes. For this purpose I will be referring to the excellent English translation of the Constitution of the Republic of Maldives by Ms. Dheena Hussain.
Apparently, a Maldivian could lose his citizenship if he decides to become an apostate of Islam. As ridiculous as this sound (Given one would become completely stateless if this were to be true), there are many people who seem to think that this is in fact something that is written down in our Constitution and and thus the law of our land.
Let's look at our Constitution, particularly I would like to look at Chapter 1 (State, Sovereignty and Citizens), section 9.
According to our great Constitution, a citizen of the Republic of Maldives is defined as follows:
(a) The following persons are citizens of the Maldives:
citizens of the Maldives at the commencement of this Constitution;
children born to a citizen of the Maldives; and
foreigners who, in accordance with the law, become citizens of the Maldives.
This should be pretty clear to most people, now the confusion comes from clause (d) which is often misquoted and used incorrectly.
(d) Despite the provisions of article (a) a nonMuslim may not become a citizen of the Maldives.
The statement is very clear, basically it says that a non Muslim that wishes to become naturalized Maldivian (as in someone who is acquiring citizenship and not already a citizen) will be denied citizenship. This does not apply to anyone who is a current citizen
In fact, the people who abuse this clause seem to totally skip over one of the most important clauses in this whole section. A clause that has to do with depriving the citizenship of a citizen.
(b) No citizen of the Maldives may be deprived of citizenship.
In very plain language it simply means that a Citizen of Maldives can never be made a non-citizen unless he wishes to do it himself.
(c) Any person who wishes to relinquish his citizenship may do so in accordance with law.
In short, A Maldivian citizen who gives up Islam is still a Maldivian citizen.
