THERE are at least 60,000 stateless and undocumented persons in Sabah, according to a census taken by a Gannos.

Gannos, a coalition of 29 Sabah non-governmental organisations, completed the census today after a month.

Its president Nani Sakam said seven zones, namely the northwest coast, southwest coast, upper interior, lower interior, Labuan, Sandakan and Tawau were covered in the census. 

“The census is aimed to demonstrate to the Sabah government that there are still individuals in the state who remained undocumented and stateless.

“The information will be forwarded to the government for the next course of action,” she said at the official closing of the census in Kota Kinabalu, today.

Gannos had earlier said that the census was to verify claims that there were 800,000 stateless persons in the state.

Sabah has the highest number of stateless children and young adults, according to the Home Ministry.

As of last year, the National Registration Department has a record of 23,154 stateless individuals under the age of 21 whose father or mother is Malaysian, in Sabah.

Sabah accounts for more than half of the 43,445 stateless individuals nationwide.

There have been various instances of genuine Sabahans becoming stateless due to late birth registration and parents lacking a marriage certificate, circumstances that are especially common in  remote and hard-to-acess rural areas.

Nani said Gannos would submit a white paper and proposal to the government  with an alternative solution for Sabah’s stateless persons problems. – July 30, 2018.