Down to RM20 – Sabah’s migrant families scrape by to stay alive

 

A Bajau Laut family in Semporna, Sabah, receiving aid from an NGO. (HUGS Project pic)

KOTA KINABALU: Recent news of an undocumented man charged with theft at a fast-food restaurant here has given cause for Wati Sapilin to be worried.

Sentiments against undocumented migrants are already strong in Sabah, but the news has added to the anxiety of the community.

The man was charged earlier this month with stealing a rice cooker worth RM235 from a fast-foot outlet in July. No reasons were given as no plea was recorded from the accused.

But Wati, who claims she is holding a red identity card (permanent resident status), suspected it could have something to do with the tough times caused by the pandemic.

“He probably needed money because his family was suffering as they had no food,” she told FMT.

“My family and I are going through a difficult period ourselves but we try to make do with the little we have.”

Wati, 40, lives with her husband, who does not have any identification document, and their seven children in a small rundown house at a coastal squatter colony in Likas near here.

The family has fallen on hard times after the couple lost their jobs due to Covid-19, cutting the only source of income to fend for their children.

Wati worked as a cleaner while her husband was a fisherman who used to work with big trawlers in town and also did odd-jobs.

“Now he can only catch fish by the seaside near our house. He doesn’t catch that much, only smaller ones, but we are grateful with just about anything that can sustain us,” she said.

“Life was not easy before this, but at least we had about RM200 extra a month to save after paying for expenses when we had jobs. But now, our savings are down to our last RM20 … it is really tough.”

Despite holding a red identity card, Wati said her family is not eligible for government assistance including food baskets.

“My husband does have some form of documentation but they are not recognised by the authorities,” she said.

She claimed that he previously held a late birth registration certificate but it was lost in a fire and he never got around to applying for a new one.

Her seven children, aged between six and 23, have either late birth registration certificates or IMM13 passes issued to refugees fleeing the southern Philippines because of the political unrest in the 1970s.

Wati said her family is, however, thankful to the NGOs that have reached out to marginalised communities like theirs, sending food assistance, but they realise that the NGOs can only do so much.

She is also grateful that her eldest daughter, who is married, helps out once in a while with food and money.

There have been occasions, however, when she had to put on a “thick face” to ask her neighbours for food items.

“Fortunately, our neighbours are nice. I ‘borrow’ items like rice and other necessities, and they tell us we can ‘pay’ them back when things improve,” she said.

“But I know this can’t go on for too long because other people are also feeling the pinch.” - FMT