MP urges Suhakam to host open forums on Sabah stateless issue

PARLIAMENT | A government backbencher debating the Suhakam annual report has called on the human rights commission to host more open forums to discuss the issue of stateless people and migrants illegally entering Sabah.

Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis (Warisan-Kota Belud) said the two groups should also be clearly differentiated when stakeholders at the state and federal levels jointly discuss the "sensitive issue".

"PTI (pendatang tanpa izin) refers to migrants who entered a country without documents or not following the (immigration) process.

"The stateless are people with no citizenship.

"The issue of citizenship has become a highly sensitive topic until at times no politicians from Sabah were willing to talk about it," she told the Dewan Rakyat.

The recent arrests of eight undocumented students at a protest outside the Sabah Chief Minister’s Office last month had sparked renewed calls of concern for generations of Bajau Laut who were born in Sabah but remained stateless with their basic rights largely denied.

"I really hope we embrace this issue. Yes, the PTI issue in Sabah has not been resolved. Yes, in Sabah we also have the stateless.

"We (politicians) can differ in our ideologies or approach, but this is an issue that we should jointly discuss and face, otherwise it will never be resolved," she stressed.

"The federal and state governments must work closely together and take serious action towards finding a balanced approach between the community's basic human rights, while not setting aside national security concerns," Isnaraissah added.

Aside from citizenship issues, she said more should be done to address Suhakam's findings on the level of basic amenities including electricity and water supply in Sabah.

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