Who We Are

The Association of Family Support & Welfare Selangor & KL (Family Frontiers) is a registered not-for-profit and impact-led feminist organization dedicated to advancing, promoting, and strengthening the family unit so that no family is left behind.

As the pioneer and sole organization advocating for the rights of Malaysian binational families, we work to advance gender-equal citizenship laws, safeguard the rights of non-citizen spouses and their children, and promote gender-sensitive, family-friendly immigration policies that uphold the right to family life. We also advocate for inclusive and accessible marriage and birth registrations, recognizing that barriers to these rights can lead to statelessness, leaving children and families without legal identity or protection.

At Family Frontiers, we center the voices and lived realities of Malaysian binational families, through policy advocacy, grassroots mobilization, and public engagement. Our work is grounded in human rights principles, emphasizing equality, non-discrimination, and the right to family life.

Specifically:

1

Equal Citizenship for All Children

Every child of a Malaysian parent, deserves legal status and access to basic rights regardless of the parent’s gender, marital status, or the place of birth of the child.

2

Accessible Birth & Marriage Registration

Inclusive, barrier-free registration to protect legal identity and the right to family life — and to prevent statelessness.

3

Legal Status for Non Malaysian Spouses

Non-citizen spouses must gain legal status within a reasonable timeframe from date of marriage — for family security and wellbeing.

4

Right to Work with Dignity

Spouses deserve equal access to employment — to live with dignity and uphold their Malaysian family’s right to a stable life together.

The Team at Family Frontiers

Aishah Ahmad

Case Coordinator

Alicia Dixon

Communications and Social Media Coordinator

Bina Ramanand

Lead Coordinator

Nathas Vari Karoonamoothi

Assistant Programme Coordinator

Patricia Low

Research and Policy Coordinator

Sarah Czarina Mashanis

Programme Officer

Sumitha Samiappan

Communications and Social Media Intern

Family Frontiers EXCO

Adlyn

Born in Penang, raised in Sabah, living in KL and calling Sarawak her home, Adlyn has been on the forefront of the Family Frontiers’ campaign for gender-equal citizenship rights. An affected person of Malaysia’s gender unequal citizenship laws, Adlyn is one of the plaintiffs of the historic Suriani Kempe & Ors VS Government of Malaysia case. She works on gender and social justice issues, engaging closely with policy makers in Malaysia and civil society groups at local, regional and global levels.

Professionally, Adlyn works in cybersecurity with degrees from University Malaya and Minnesota State University. She is a cybersecurity lead in a global financial institution with focus on first line of defense initiatives, currently working on cyber fusion.

Fun fact:

Adlyn is a certified water safety and survival instructor.

Lim Chee Han

Lim Chee Han is a senior researcher at the Third World Network and a founding member of Agora Society. He holds a PhD in Infection Biology from Hannover Medical School, Germany, and an MSc in Immunology and a BSc in Biotechnology from Imperial College London. He is interested in health and socio-economic policy. He believes in justice and human rights for people, and that a nation can make significant progress if policymaking and research are taken seriously.

Gaithiri

Gaithiri is a social finance advisor with over 20 years of experience in finance and a CPA. She recently led a global impact investment fund in the US, focusing on economic and climate justice. Between 2013 and 2018, she helped expand a Malaysian government-linked investment fund to San Francisco. It was there that she met her life partner and they welcomed their daughter. Until recently, she was affected by Malaysia’s gender discriminatory citizenship laws for her child born overseas. Gaithiri has been and remains a vocal advocate for gender justice in Malaysia and internationally.

Melinda

Sharm

Sharm Rajoo is an accountant and has worked in the private and public sectors in Malaysia and NZ respectively. She is currently a consultant at a risk advisory firm. Sharm advocates for Malaysian Mothers to achieve equal rights to confer citizenship to their overseas born children. She presented the data that was collected from Malaysian Mothers overseas on their citizenship applications related issues at the launch of the Gender Equal Citizenship Campaign in September 2019. She has been involved in the campaign since then. She is also passionate about protecting voting rights of the Malaysian Diaspora and has worked on improving the overseas postal voting system.

Suri

Suri Kempe is a feminist and activist, and focuses her energies on issues related to social justice, gender and inclusion. Her expertise in policy analysis, advocacy strategy, research, training, and evaluation stem from 20 years’ experience working with the United Nations, government, and civil society in several regions, including South and Southeast Asia, Horn of Africa, and the MENA region.

Suri held the Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment portfolio at the United Nations Development Programme in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, and also worked on parliamentary affairs and communications as Special Officer to the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development in Malaysia.

Suri is currently serving on the boards of several national and regional civil society organisations including Family Frontiers (which is currently advocating for equal citizenship rights), Asia-Pacific Research and Resource Center (ARROW), International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW AP), and Noor. Suri is also the co-founder of Kemban Kolektif, a feminist consulting practice that supports organisations in meeting their social justice and human rights objectives.

Yoke Ling

Partners, Allies & Supporters

All Women’s Action Society (AWAM)
Akar Umbi Society
Angkatan Wanita Amanah Nasional (AWAN)
ASASI KPUM
Asia Research Centre
Bar Council Human Rights Committee
Child Rights Coalition Malaysia (CRCM)
CSO-SDG Alliance
EMPOWER Malaysia
Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas, Malaysia (DHRRA-Malaysia)
GerakBudaya
Global Bersih
IIUM Law Society
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Malaysia
Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG)
Kolej Yayasan UEM
Knowledge and Rights with Young People Through Safe Spaces (KRYSS Network)
Majlis Hal Ehwal Wanita dan Keluarga UMNO Malaysia (HAWA)
Malaysian Citizenship Rights Alliance (MCRA)
Malaysian Law Students’ Network (MLSN)
Musawah
Nationality For All (NFA)
Projek Liber8
PACOS Trust
Sabah Women’s Action Resource Group (SAWO)
Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS)
Social Democracy Malaysia (SOCDEM)
Sisters in Islam (SIS)
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
SUHAKAM
Tenaganita
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
University Malaya Lex Act
Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO)
Women’s Wing of the Malaysian Chinese Association (Wanita MCA)
Lawyer Kamek For Change (Sarawak)
Purple Lily Association Kuching (Sarawak)
Women’s Centre for Change (WCC), Pulau Pinang
Cahaya Society (Sabah)
ANAK (Sabah)
Justice for Sisters (JFS)
Architects of Diversity (AOD)
Iskul Sama di Laut Omadal (Sabah)
Persatuan Pembela Wanita
Stateless Malaysia Citizenship Movement (SMCM)
Untitled Kompeni
The Fourth

Our Story

Foreign Spouses Support Group (FSSG) was formed in 2009 by two non-citizen mothers, married to Malaysians, who experienced insurmountable difficulties in raising their Malaysian children within the country. They formed FSSG to support other spouses of Malaysians faced with similar challenges, with the aim of advancing, promoting and protecting the welfare of non-citizen spouses married to Malaysians and their children by influencing policy, and providing services through community and network building.

Since 2015, FSSG has expanded its advocacy to include not only foreign spouses but also Malaysians who face the inability to confer their citizenship on their children. Family Frontiers now leads the Malaysian Campaign for Equal Citizenship to achieve law and policy reforms such that Malaysians have equal rights to confer citizenship on their children and spouses, through gender-equal laws, policies and practices.

In July 2020, individuals directly or indirectly impacted by the above issues came together to form the Association of Family Support and Welfare (Family Frontiers) registered under the Registrar of Societies, Malaysia. Family Frontiers’ vision is to realise gender equality and non-discrimination so that the full enjoyment of rights for Malaysian bi-national families in their families, community and society is achieved.

Our Approach

Community outreach and network-building of target community to ensure access to information, peer support and solidarity

This includes daily inquiries, case management, necessary referrals and continuous updates of information on the Foreign Spouses Support Group (FSSG) online helpdesk and service platform that caters to a community of 36,000 followers mostly consisting of Malaysian bi-national families. FSSG also caters directly to 300 members of various individual close-knit support groups that it manages.

Community engagement to represent lived realities in advocacy

Family Frontiers platforms those impacted in all aspects of its advocacy to ensure their lived realities and voices are reflected in its campaigns, advocacy materials, online discussions, webinars, outreach activities and physical meetings.

Capacity building on the advocacy for equal citizenship and access to legal status

Family Frontiers works towards building the capacity of community members to promote self-advocacy and ensure that the autonomy is transferred back to the community. Through its youth collective, Family Frontiers also focuses on efforts to capacitate youth advocates/campaigners/activists to mobilise action for equal citizenship rights. Family Frontiers works with service centres of Members of Parliament and State Assembly persons, such that there is adequate support and information given to Malaysian bi-national families in the constituency while navigating bureaucratic processes.

Advocacy and awareness-raising through stakeholder, media and parliamentary engagement

Family Frontiers engages with policymakers; human rights bodies, CSOs & coalitions (national, regional and global); Members of the Legal Fraternity; the general public such that there is a continuous discourse on the issue and an increase in stakeholders’ understanding of the need for reform. Family Frontiers also heavily relies on media engagement, and parliamentary engagement by utilising parliamentary mechanisms.

Contribution to national, regional

and global advocacy

Family Frontiers is a coalition member of various coalitions nationally, regionally and globally. Family Frontiers also contributes towards interventions to international treaties and communication procedures such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), UN Working Groups and Special Rapporteurs, and Commission on the Status of Women.