Suriani Kempe
President/ Human rights activist, Family Frontiers
The human rights activist is at the forefront in the fight to grant citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers
In September last year, the High Court made a monumental decision to grant citizenship to children born to Malaysian mothers overseas. Spearheading this fight is Family Frontiers led by Suriani Kempe, a lifelong activist who also co-founded Queer Lapis, an NGO serving the LGBTQ+ community, and Kemban Kolekt, a feminist collective.
Although the victory was short-lived when the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court's decision in August this year, Family Frontiers has magnified the cause from just the six individual mothers who filed the lawsuit to a case that garnered huge national and international interest.
Suriani continues the good fight and Family Frontiers filed an appeal with the Federal Court, which has set December 14, 2022 to hear the case.
“Some people will not like or be comfortable with what I'm doing, and I've learned that that's okay.”
