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“Juni visited her social worker for the first time when she was seven months into her pregnancy,” a lawyer friend told me.

“She had just seen a doctor. Her doctor sent her to the social worker because Juni had no birth certificate, no identity card. Her father, Seman, had an IC, but her mother, Flora, didn’t. Flora had been born far from the town, and she’d never been to the Registration Department.

the antidote article sarawak natives stories 120509 03 “Flora and Juni went to the social worker’s office, hoping they’d receive help to have their ICs done. The social worker, Ana, asked her to fill in some forms and gave them a small amount of money to help with the fare on the ‘van sapu’ (illegal taxis) to get home, and sent her away,” the lawyer explained.

He went on, “Juni had to keep going to hospital, because she’d suffered from epilepsy since she was a small child. She needed medicines to prevent seizures. She was a slow learner too, and had never finished primary school. She was 19, the oldest of seven siblings. She helped her mother around in their small home.

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