STATELESS FAMILIES IN SOUTH STRUGGLE TO FIND THEIR IDENTITY

Princess’s initiative to offer access to social services

Born into a Thai family in Pattani, Irafan Abdullahman never thought to question his Thai bloodlines, but when the time came to make his nationality official, the boy ran into a problem. He had no official documentation. “I don’t have any Thai registration papers,” he said.

His problem is shared by many Thai children and adults who migrated to Malaysia and failed to renew their Thai ID cards or register the birth certificates of their children.

Many children end up having no documents to verify their citizenship.

But Thai authorities are becoming aware of the unclear status people like Irafan share and are preparing to begin a process to verify their origin, which includes a DNA check, in order to grant them Thai nationality.

“This is an initiative of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn,” said Thirut Suphawibunphon, chief of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre’s foreign affairs unit.

The SBPAC, a key agency overseeing social, political and economic development in the southernmost provinces, is helping displaced Thai people whose lack of official documents in identifying their nationality hinders them from accessing state services, especially education and medical treatment, from the Thai and Malaysian governments.

“I feel very much grateful to HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn,” said Bedo Aba, a Pattani resident who has worked in Malaysia.

Spending most of her working life in Malaysia, Ms Bedo has not had a chance to ask for a birth certificate for her child, who was born in Malaysia. He is now 10 years old but so far has no proof of his Thai nationality.

According to the SBPAC’s survey, both Thai Buddhists and Muslims go to Malaysia to work, hoping to make good money.

They mainly work in major cities like Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Melaka and Johor Bahru. A popular job among them is farming. Another group of Thai people in Malaysia are what Mr Thirut calls “persons with different opinions from the Thai government” or more directly known as dissidents.

“If they did not register [identity], they can join the process because they too are Thai people,” he said.

Ma-ae Sa-ah, a former co-leader of separatist movement Patani Liberation Organisation (Pulo), said he has already handed a list of names of persons seeking Thai nationality to SBPAC.

Many children were born to Thai parents who have worked in rubber and palm plantations in Malaysia, Mr Ma-ae said.

They did not inform authorities of the births because they were working up until their passports and identity cards expired and did not renew them, making the children unable to access to state service, he said.

Many families Mr Ma-ae knows are currently in trouble.

They cannot use services provided by either Thailand or Malaysia while their children cannot enter schools simply because they don’t have domicile documents, he said.

Their reluctance to meet authorities was noticed by Mr Thirut when he and officials of Thai consular office in the city of Kota Bharu met Thai workers to check their health and examine their travel documents.

Some of them had “no courage to meet us for fear of being arrested”, he said.

However, if these workers want Thai citizenship, reporting to officials will be the first step. Currently officials are gathering the names of applicants for Thai citizenship, which will run until July this year.

Next they will be interviewed and required to have their DNA examined.

A check of their genetic carrier is a reliable way to help clearly identify their nationality before issuing documents, Mr Thirut said.

Such a process will make Irafan’s dream come true. “I really want to go back to Pattanni to study,” he said.