SHAH ALAM - The Malaysian authorities must stop treating undocumented persons as criminals, says stateless child rights activist following the recent case of 21-year old Sabrin from Sabah.
Advocates for Non-Discrimination and Access to Knowledge (ANAK) founder Anne Baltazar said the country was suffering from administrative issues rather than legal issues when it came to the stateless people.
She highlighted that Sabrin was "punished” with five months imprisonment for being undocumented thus making him a criminal.
"Not having documentation is not a crime, it is an administrative issue. Therefore, stop treating undocumented persons as criminals.
"Action should only be taken if there is a crime committed where in this case, Sabrin did not commit any crime. He was just not privileged enough to have proper documents. Stop the criminalisation and discrimination," she told Sinar Daily.
In an ideal world, she said no one should be stateless and should be considered giving citizenship but in the context of Malaysia, a pathway to citizenship has not being established clearly, leading to a huge number of undocumented people in Sabah.
Anne highlighted that most of the stateless people took up jobs that most locals did not want to do, highlighting Malaysia’s needs for them.
"We all hope for better lives for all regardless of citizenship and what happens in five years needs to be built and advocated for at this time.
"The proposed amendments in the Federal Constitution, which will most probably be debated in Parliament in October, will create more stateless children and will not solve the persistent problem of statelessness,” she said, referring to the stricter measures for stateless people to acquire citizenship.
There needs to be more urgency to address the regressive amendments to the attention of the Members of Parliament, Anne said in hopes that their support would halt the proposed amendments.
Meanwhile, activist and former stateless person Wong Kueng Hui said that the issue of statelessness in Malaysia was often used as a tool to instil fear among the public.
Commenting on Sabrin’s case, he said stateless people were human beings and not political pawns.
"They deserve to be treated fairly and with dignity," he said.
Wong, who received his citizenship two years ago after 16 years of fighting for it, said that the issue required a rational and empathetic approach rather than a rhetoric that only divided the society.
"Regardless of who forms the government, whether at the state or federal level, I urge them to present both short-term and long-term humane solutions to address the statelessness issue in Sabah," he said.
Echoing similar sentiments to Anne, Wong also said that being stateless should not be a crime since no one asked to be born that way.
"They should not be punished by the system; in fact, the system should take proactive measures to uplift them from their legal limbo," he said, expressing empathy for Sabrin’s situation as he has been in the same boat in the past.
"Humane measures must be ensured and they should not politicise their existence. The authorities must bear in mind that they are dealing with human beings, not objects," he said.
Both Anne and Wong praised the efforts by Borneo Komrad, an activist movement in Sabah headed by Wan Shakila Adiela Wan Azmi, for raising awareness on Sabrin and matter at hand.
Wong said Borneo Komrad has been excellent in their grassroots campaigns for the stateless such as their alternative school and university as they believe education is a tool for liberation.
Wong also said the group had conducted tours in Peninsula Malaysia to give talks, forums and press conferences to raise awareness on the issue of statelessness including their campaign #PandangKeSabah on the Bajau Laut community.
"The #PandangKeSabah and many more campaigns have successfully gathered grassroots support in both Borneo and Semenanjung Malaysia to openly discuss the issue of statelessness to the point it has become a national conversation that managed to pressure the Federal Government and Sabah state government to be more cautious and considerate when it comes to the issue of statelessness.
"Secondly, the Malaysia Citizenship Rights Alliance had successfully mobilised support to oppose the proposed constitutional amendments regarding citizenship to the point the Cabinet had to drop two out of five of their regressive proposed amendments," he said.
On Sept 12, stateless person Sabrin from Semporna was arrested in Tawau while on his way to his family to give money. Police arrested him for not having a Malaysian identity card and led to his jail time.
He is currently going through an appeal process in the Tawau Court. He was seen appealing to the court to consider his judgement as he was the sole breadwinner for his mother and younger siblings, who were still in school.