Attending school should be a normal part of life for children as they grow up. But for a large number of children in Sabah who are classified as stateless, getting an education is not a given. The lack of an identification document, which is the prerequisite for enrolment in school, forces them into the job market at a very young age, working odd jobs, including hard physical labour, in plantations.
Earlier this year, news of Sabah-born top scorer Arly Mai Geanga pleading for citizenship to enable her to continue her studies drew some attention to the plight of stateless children. Arly is only one of many children who are being held back by their status.
Being stateless means having no formal record of your existence, hence considered an undocumented individual. The many persons in Sabah who fall into this category are not only migrants from nearby Indonesia and the Philippines,…
