KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — The Sabah government’s recent deconstruction of the makeshift huts built by the seafaring Bajau Laut community on Malaysia’s easternmost shores drew...
Is citizenship for the stateless Bajau Laut the only solution? Some human rights fighters say yes, others say it’s putting cart before horse
“Granting them citizenship would formalise them into the mainstream of Malaysian society, thus providing them with the normal rights and welfare that are provided to Malaysians, such as health and education. This will in turn reduce crime, communicable diseases, and so on,” the Pusat Komas director told“If an estimated 25,000 individuals are granted citizenship, they will be integrated into the system, allowing security forces to identify them.
“Whereas the granting of citizenship to Bajau Laut people is the conferment of citizenship on people who are entitled to citizenship but were not granted citizenship,” he said. “The issue is complex. There probably needs to be a reconciliation process first from Project IC while the government initiates dialogue with the Philippines and Indonesia governments on how to protect the Bajau Laut as the indigenous people of the Sulu and Sulawesi seas.
Sabah Project IC Citizenship Statelessness
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