Forum: Stateless in Malaysia : Stories from the East and West

Speaker’s:
Ms. Shakila (Borneo Komrad)
Ms. Maalini (DHRRA Malaysia)

Moderator:
Ms. Esther Sinirisan Chong

In the subsequent Q&A dialogue session, audience would be free to use any of the three languages (English, BM, Mandarin) to ask the panellists.

UNHCR stated there are at least 10,000 people in West Malaysia whose nationality is denied and the number of stateless people remained unknown in East Malaysia. Persons affected by statelessness and documentation issues come from a variety of historical implications and existing gaps of policy practices in Malaysia.

In West Malaysia, DHRRA Malaysia has gathered a pool of cases on statelessness (more than 12,500) and identified cross-cutting issues causing and preventing the reduction of statelessness. While little is known about the complex issues facing the East Malaysian states, there is a high possibility it houses the highest concentration of stateless persons in the country.

In Malaysia, statelessness is often misunderstood as a term foreigner attempting to acquire Malaysian nationality. Understanding statelessness and the context that causing statelessness in West and East Malaysia will be important to advocate for necessary administrative or legal measures required to find a solution for them.

To answer this, a panel from East Malaysia, Ms Shakila from Broneo Komrad and Ms Maalini from DHRRA Malaysia will attempt to answer these queries by sharing their experiences as a member who works closely with stateless persons in East and West Malaysia. Both speakers will share this in an open dialogue session and to explore the difference being stateless in East and West Malaysia. In the same time, Ms Maalini will share her expertise and experience in managing the Mapping and Registration project of stateless people in West Malaysia.