KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 — The number of Malaysians giving up their citizenship for Singapore has surged sharply in recent years, with over 6,000 doing so in the first half of 2025 alone.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said 6,060 Malaysians had renounced their citizenship as of June 30 this year.
“The preceding years saw 7,394 cases in 2015 followed by 8,654 (2016), 7,583 (2017) and 7,665 (2018),” he said in a written parliamentary reply to Kota Bharu MP Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan who asked for the number of Malaysians who applied for Singaporean citizenship from 2015 to 2025.
Last year saw 16,930 citizenship renunciations, up from 11,500 in 2023.
The figure in 2022 was 5,623, lower than the 7,956 recorded in 2021.
The highest annual total before last year was 13,362 cases in 2019, before falling to 5,591 in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
