Statelessness a long-standing issue in S’wak, Sabah – activist
KUCHING: Solidariti Anak Sarawak (S4S) applauds Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s pledge to address the issue of statelessness across Malaysia but urged the premier to extend the initiative to the natives of Sarawak and Sabah.
Human rights activist Peter John Jaban said this is because the issue of statelessness has been plaguing natives in the Borneon states through the generations.
“The solution cannot be on a case-to-case basis and must involve a proper process of engagement with variety of stakeholders, from civil society, communities, and various government agencies from both Sarawak and the federal government,” he said through WhatsApp to the media.
Peter was commenting on the announcement by the Prime Minister on the rights of permanent residents aged 60 and above to get full citizenship.
At a press conference in Kuala Lumpur recently, Dr Mahathir said during a meeting with Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders and the Indian community, the federal government had agreed to grant 3,407 stateless Indians in Malaysia to get Permanent Resident (PR) status as what had been promised during the 14th general election even though the process to issue the blue MyKad would take time.
Peter, who is also CEC member of Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia), said it is indeed exciting to see at long last, the political will to help longstanding members of the Malaysian Indian community to finally achieve their rightful position in Malaysian society.
“However, this political will must extend to solving issues of statelessness in the country as a whole, once and for all. The levels of statelessness that we are seeing, particularly in the Borneon states and the Indian Malaysian community, are a blight on a prosperous and progressive nation like Malaysia, now into its 55th year of formation,” he said.
However, the National Registration Department (NRD) needs a complete ‘overhaul’ in its approach on handling the issues of statelessness in Sarawak and Sabah, he pointed out.
“There may be scope to amend the Federal Constitution, both to reflect the position of Malaysia as an established nation and also to bring it to international standards and conventions such as the United Nations Convention (UNC) on the rights of a child,” said Peter.
Peter, who has been campaigning on this issue and assisting the Orang Asal to obtain their ICs and documentation since 2016, added that NRD needs to change policies that ignore the special status of the natives as well as the international convention on human rights.
“It’s about time NRD at the state level has complete autonomy to recognise ‘adat’ and resolve issues with identity documents.
“Rules in Putrajaya have no understanding of Sarawak issues and ‘adat’, where to that effect, people have been denied their nationality, healthcare, education and worst, the rights to be cared for equally by both parents,” he said.
Malaysia currently maintains five reservations to this convention - denying children in this country the universal rights to a name or a nationality, free and compulsory primary school education, and even freedom from torture and deprivation of their liberty, he added.
“However, the distinct social, cultural and historical background of each of the Borneon states means that this cannot be a ‘one size fits all solution’.
“There must be a process of engagement with these marginalised communities so that a tailored solution can be developed, which means considering both the ‘Adat’ which not only forms part of the body of law in Sarawak, but also the specific and serious challenges that the indigenous people (Orang Asal) of Sarawak and Sabah face,” he said.
He questioned how the government through NRD would propose to identify stateless individuals who live far from civilisations without proper infrastructure, how NRD intends to tackle the illiteracy problems caused by years of educational neglect, how it will solve the problems of individuals whom JPN had issued with incorrect documentation after years of confusion and many other unsolved problems.
“We have encountered Orang Asal Sarawak single families with ‘rainbow’ of identification cards - some blue, red and green, from the same parents,” added Peter, who has been helping the Orang Asal Sarawak to obtain their ICs and birth certificates.
Solidariti Anak Sarawak was formerly known as Sarawak for Sarawakians (S4S), which was rebranded following splits due to differences in political ideologies.