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The CSO Platform for Reform welcomes Sarawak government’s initiative to issue temporary documentation for stateless children.
On April 9, Sarawak’s Minister for Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah announced that the Sarawak Premier’s Office will be issuing temporary documentation for individuals under the age of 21 who have not yet received their citizenship documents.

As a platform for civil society organisations working on institutional reform, CSO Platform for Reform would like to propose some recommendations to the State Government and relevant authorities to ensure the issuing of temporary documents brings a win-win situation for all affected parties.
We recommend the Sarawak Government and relevant authorities to act on the following:
1. Involve relevant stakeholders including CSOs that are working on this issue. In the spirit of Sarawakku Sayang, the State Government should invite more CSOs who are working on these issues to be a part of the team as this will help the Government to reach all the relevant children across the various parts of Sarawak

2. Make the process publicly accessible: Make the process transparent so that the public is clear on how to apply; how their case is progressing; the outcome and reasons given if their application is not accepted.

3. Expedite 900 cases. According to Bill Jugah of Independent Council of Natives (ICON), there are 900 cases that are still pending. Hence the State Government needs to allocate the necessary resources to process these within a set time frame so all the affected children can speedily be accepted into schools.

4. Prioritise temporary documents for stateless children. It is important for the stateless children to get temporary documents where they can get access to education. Without the documents, their education will be delayed. Similarly, it is hoped that the temporary documents will improve the children’s access to healthcare.

Although the temporary document is not a guarantee that they would obtain Malaysian citizenship, with this announcement, we believe that the stateless children could access freely and safely to public education and medical services which are crucial for their livelihood and survival.

For any information regarding stateless children, we kindly request the members of the public to reach out to:

Mr. Bill Jugah
President
Independent Council of Natives (ICON)
+6016-875 1119

Dr.Angie Garet
President
Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS)
+6013-8185174

Simon Siah
Lawyer Kamek 4 Change (LK4C)
+6019-8370077

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