LABUAN, July 8 — Three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) today made their stand to give full support on a government affiliate, Gabungan NGOs Negeri Sabah’s (Gannos) move to conduct a census on about 800,000 individuals in Sabah and Labuan who claim to be stateless or do not possess any identification documents.
They are Labuan Cultural and Ethnic Welfare Association, Labuan Taman Mutiara Residents Association and Labuan Indian Chamber of Commerce Industry.
The group leader Asroh Sukardi said there was still a high number of undocumented individuals including school-going children, not only in Sabah but also in Labuan, despite their parents or at least one of them, possessed valid travel document like the Malaysian identification card (IC).
“Our associations have been approached by a number of people who claimed to be stateless, following to the recent Gannos’ statement on the stateless issue, and we feel that we can highlight this together with Gannos to help resolve this long-standing issue,” he told Bernama today.
Asroh said there were also many school-going children possessed only birth certificate with no status of citizenship due to their parents’ marriage had not gone through the Sabah Department of Islamic Religious Affairs or due to their non-Malaysian biological mother.
“The exact number of families currently going through this situation cannot be determined, but we believe it is high, and to this, we are willing to be with Gannos to conduct the census on undocumented individuals in Labuan,” he said.
On June 22, Gannos issued a statement on its move to conduct a census by 29 Gannos associations beginning June 23 in seven zones — North West Coast, South West Coast, Upper Interior, Lower Interior, Labuan, Sandakan and Tawau.
For a start, the census task force will only collect 10 samples (undocumented individuals) in each district. — Bernama
