Compare and Contrast Federal Constitution and Constitution of China

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Article 8: Equality

Article 8(1) of Federal Constitution states that all persons are equal before the law while article 33(2) of China Constitution states that only citizens of the People's Republic of China are equal before the law. This means there might be discrimination towards non-China citizens before the law.

Article 8(2) of Federal Constitution states the aspects that is protected as a fundamental liberties for equality. However, according to article 8(2) of Federal Constitution there are exceptions allowed under the Constitution. The exceptions are supported on Clause (5) where several conditions are not invalidate or prohibited by article 8.

Exceptions on article 8(2) of Federal Constitution cause discriminant towards nonaborigines in Malaysia where reasonable proportion of suitable positions in the public service and land are reserved for aborigines. Women rights are also unequal to men rights for Islamic women. Freedoms of religion are also taken away for Muslims, which creates an inequality of religion. In comparison, there are no exceptions in the fundamental rights guaranteed on equality in China Constitution. All citizens of the People's Republic of China were given equal proportion of suitable positions in the public service. Religion equality and gender equality are explicitly guaranteed in article 36(2) and article 48(1) of China constitution.

Article 8(3) of Federal Constitution explicitly states that there shall be no discrimination in favour of the subject of the Ruler of any State, however it could still be invalidated according to Clause (5). In China Constitution there are not similar articles because China does not have any sort of Ruler.

Article 8(4) of Federal Constitution explicitly states that no public authority shall discriminate any person on the ground that he is resident or carrying on business in any part of the Federation outside the jurisdiction of the authority. In China Constitution it does not explicitly guarantees equal treatment for foreigner, but guarantees equal treatment on all citizens of People's Republic of China.

So, even though Federal Constitution states that everyone is equal before the law, there are a lot of exceptions which creates discrimination unlike the China Constitution which ensures equality towards all citizens.

Article 9: Prohibition of banishment and freedom of movement

According to the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, there are articles discussed about rights in freedom of movement. Based on Article 9, no citizen shall be banished or excluded from the Federation in which this is an absolute right. In other words, citizen of Malaysia have the rights not to be excluded and prohibited from any part of the country. It also stated that every citizen has the right to move freely throughout the country and to reside in any place in the country. This is a non-absolute right because it comes with exception which is restricted by law with the purpose of national security, public order, public health or punishment of offenders. For example, the person is found guilty and sentenced to prison falls under punishment of offenders while a person is quarantined result of suffering diseases falls under public health restriction. The second restriction is that East Malaysia has immigration laws that control over entry into borders along with residence during 1963 with the agreement of Sabah and Sarawak to form Malaysia with Malaya and Singapore (Johan, 2013). Citizen of Malaysia have the rights to move outside of Malaysia because there is no such law for authorities to decline a passport from any citizen.

In China, the difference from Fundamental Liberties is that there is a system called

Hukou system. China’s Hukou System is a family registration program that act as domestic passport to ensure social, political and economic stability. Citizen was permitted to travel under controlled conditions but citizen that has been assigned to a certain area cannot access to jobs, public services, education, health care and food in another area, which also known as illegal immigrant when a citizen do not have government-issued Hukou. In 1984, a new type of permit which is “self-supplied food grain” Hukou is introduced, where migrant must be employed, have own accommodations in new location and be able to provide own food grain. Despite reform, state services are also not eligible for holders and they cannot move to other urban areas ranked higher than that particular town (Ping Zhou, 2017). In my opinion, every person should have the right to move from one country to another freely without offending the country’s law and regulations.

Article 10: Freedom of speech, assembly and association

In terms of freedom of speech, assembly and association aspects, both Malaysia and China have identical articles, these can be shown in article 10 of Federal Constitution and article 35 of Constitution of China. Every citizen of China and Malaysia has the rights to speak whatever they want, to assemble peaceably and to create associations of their own. China even focuses on citizens getting their freedom of the press, of procession and of demonstration where Malaysia did not mention these freedoms in its Fundamental Liberties.

In conjunction with these freedoms, China did also immerse some hidden signs of these freedoms in some articles. In article 33, it states that The State respects and preserves human rights in freedoms. Likewise in article 34, citizens who have reached 18 have the right to vote which also means they can choose the leader by voting just like speaking what they want. Moreover in article 41, citizens are free to criticize regarding any State organ or functionary as their wish.

However, these freedoms are not absolute, there is some restrictions imposing in these freedoms. The freedoms depend on national security, public order, ethics or morality as stated in

Malaysia Article 10(2). Certain issues like status of national language, Malay’s special rights should not be questioned. In short, Malaysians have freedom in saying whatever they like as long as it does not break rules or threaten society.

China Fundamental Liberties also contains certain restrictions on the freedom in a similar manner with Malaysia. In article 38 of China, insult or libel against citizens by any means is prohibited which restricted the topics of their talking. Furthermore, article 51 also states that citizens should not infringe upon the interests of the State, of society or the lawful freedoms and rights of other citizens while practising their

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