The Malaysian Insight

THE human rights groups of Malaysia and Indonesia will work together to end statelessness problems in Sabah.  

This follows today’s signing of a memorandum of understand between the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and the National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia, the first of its kind of agreement.

The Human Rights of the Philippines (CHRP) will be an observer to the initiative, where all groups will also be working on a two-year action plan to deal with the problem. 

Suhakam acting commissioner Jerald Joseph said the institutions will be sharing information and engaging with the respective governments in resolving the issue. 

He added they will engage with the anti-corruption agencies in their respective countries, especially in dealing with documentations and human trafficking issues. 

“We want to work respective government in taking up the issue separately. 

“We also will be engaging with other Asian nations on the problem and at the same time promoting the United Nations standards on dealing with the stateless persons,” he said in Kota Kinabalu today. 

Stateless persons is one of the long-standing problems in Sabah, not only created by locals but also migrants from the Philippines and Indonesia.  

Jerald said Suhakam is aware of the problem among locals, saying it involves policy and requires Putrajaya intervention to address the problem. 

At present, he said the Sabah Suhakam office receives 50 reports monthly, with 80% of them involving documentation. 

He said documentation is a right for all people, not citizenship, where it lies in the political decision of the government to grant them. – April 23, 2019