Born here, but unrecognised: The fight for citizenship in Sabah

 

For thousands of undocumented people in Sabah, the absence of a birth certificate or identity card affects every aspect of life, from education and employment to a basic sense of belonging. — NSTP/Olivia Miwil

KOTA BELUD: Every time "Hafiz" — not his real name — attends to matters related to his citizenship application, he is forced to relive the painful memory of being abandoned by his mother.

Born at home and never registered, the 23-year-old from Kota Belud grew up without a birth certificate, leaving him undocumented for most of his life.

Although he had long wanted to resolve his status, various complications delayed the process until last year, when he finally began applying for a birth certificate using documents belonging to his maternal uncle.

-Advertisement-

"Every time I go through the process, I have to explain my past to the officials," he said.

The process often leaves him emotionally drained.

Despite lacking official documents, Hafiz completed primary and secondary school with the support of teachers and members of his village community. Today, he works at a restaurant in Kota Kinabalu owned by a fellow villager.

Yet his undocumented status continues to shape his daily life.

Without identification documents, he receives his salary in cash because he cannot open a bank account. He is also unable to apply for a driving licence.

"I am lucky that the authorities never ask to check my documents," said the soft-spoken Dusun youth when met during a mobile court programme in Kota Belud.

For many undocumented people, life is defined not by what they have, but by what they lack: recognition.

Without official papers, they move through society like shadows, unable to prove they belong.

Anne Baltazar, co-founder of Advocates for Non-discrimination and Access to Knowledge (Anak), said this sense of invisibility is among the most painful realities faced by stateless and undocumented individuals.

"If you know a stateless person, they always say, 'I feel like I live like a shadow' because they don't have documents to prove they are citizens.

"They would say, 'When I am not a citizen, it is like I don't exist,'" she said, adding that such circumstances often lead to emotional distress, including depression.

The problem is more widespread than many realise and is not confined to migrant communities.

Indigenous communities in Sabah, including those whose histories predate modern borders, are also affected.

Anne cited recent outreach efforts in Sabah's interior, including in Tenom, where hundreds of people — mostly from the Lundayeh community — were found without proper documentation.

Many were elderly and unable to prove their citizenship because their parents had never possessed official documents.

"These are our original people. Their lives were never defined by borders. Borders came later," she said.

Children born into complex family situations — such as those with a Malaysian father and a foreign mother whose marriage was never legally registered — can also fall through administrative gaps.

Without birth certificates or identity cards, access to education, healthcare and employment becomes uncertain, while fear and insecurity continue to shape daily life.

Anne said undocumented status is often misunderstood as a criminal issue when it is essentially an administrative one.

"Not having documents is not supposed to be a crime. A crime is when someone harms others. This is just about papers, but because it is placed under security, it becomes framed as something criminal," she said.

Lengthy application processes add another layer of hardship, with some citizenship claims taking more than a decade to resolve.

To address the issue, Anak has been advocating universal birth registration, regardless of a child's status, to ensure basic identification and official records from the start of life.

"By having a birth certificate — green for citizens and red for non-citizens or those of unknown status — an individual at least has some form of proof and basic information about themselves," she said. NST

This story was produced in conjunction with a six-month Progressive Journalism Fellowship for journalists exploring issues of race, religion and inequality in Malaysia.