Provide access to social mobility for all

Here I am back on Pulau Omadal in Sabah, where more than half the population there consists of the undocumented Bajau Laut community.

For a little bit of context, my organisation Fat Bidin is running a project supported by Yayasan Hasanah and the Finance Ministry where we help to teach the local youth storytelling and filmmaking skills which will culminate into a feature documentary.

This weekend, with the help from the alternative school Iskul Sama DiLaut, we have started the workshop series and the first, conducted by United Nations Development Programme consultant Thomas Koruth Samuel, has nothing to do with storytelling.

The first workshop’s objective is to motivate the participants and give them a little bit of forward-thinking so that they see worth in participating.

Again, for context, these undocumented Bajau Laut do not live a very well-to-do life. Their lives are quite squalid and hard.

Due to their undocumented status, they are unable to get a formal education, can’t get proper jobs, and have no access to healthcare or even any societal infrastructure. They live in squatter shacks off the coast of Sabah and forage for their food.

One of the most common concepts or perceptions is that many of us think that education is the most important thing for people to improve their lives.

While it is a very vital and important element, there is another factor that is also a significant contributor for people to improve their lives and that is the ability to envision an ambition and a better life.

When asked about career ambition, many of the participants mentioned wanting to be teachers. The reason why teaching is the most common ambition is because these are the people these kids are exposed to.

They attend Iskul and the teachers there are the most prominent people in their lives teaching them reading, writing and arithmetic. So, these are the people they aspire to be or want as mentors.

The second most common ambition is to be a doctor or nurse, and we discover that there is a community health clinic run by a group of volunteer doctors who come once every few months to give basic healthcare to the community on the island.

Other top picks include mat weaver and fisherfolk because those are some of the cottage industries that operate on the island.

Limited exposure

Now there is nothing wrong with any of these careers, but it is also obvious that the youth on the island are picking ambitions that they are exposed to and if their exposure is limited, then their ambitions and dreams are consequently limited to their limited exposure as well.

Hence, the exposure and the ability to dream big is something that will also allow these youth to achieve success.

The first workshop that we conducted was to expose the participants to different things that they can do and also for them to discover for themselves what they are best suited for.

Also, as an overall objective, although we are gearing the workshop series towards storytelling and filmmaking, our hope is that through the process, they start to expand their view and their ambitions and their motivation to achieve it.

The fact that they all come from underprivileged families and homes also means that their parents aren’t able to give them the right exposure they need to be motivated. How can you blame them when they need to focus more on putting food on the table daily, right? That is why I believe that the ability to visualise a good future and a good life is important for them to achieve it.

As much as it is important to provide an education, it is also important to show the youth that they can use the education they get to do something for their lives.

They also need to realise that there is a chance that they can make their dreams and ambitions become reality and that it isn’t impossible, because why would they waste their time putting in effort if their dreams are impossible?

I believe that access to education and social mobility are basic human rights. Every member of society needs to be given these rights because what is the point of living if you can’t improve your life?

I think we as a whole society need to also realise this so that we can work towards giving these basic human rights to everyone living in our country because, at the moment, there are pockets of society that don’t have them. - Mkini

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ZAN AZLEE is a writer, documentary filmmaker, journalist and academic. Visit fatbidin.com to view his work.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.