SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: SOUTHEAST ASIA SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: SOUTHEAST ASIA Population Stateless Refugees Reported stateless persons In 2022, of the 115,169 reported stateless persons, 103,380 were stateless Rohingya refugees in Malaysia.2784 While previously welcomed and supported by Malaysia, the Rohingya population has never gained full protection due to Malaysia not being a party to the Refugee Convention and its protocol and in recent years have faced discrimination, arrest, detention and boat pushbacks.2785 Malaysia has the third largest reported stateless population in the Southeast Asia sub-region, reporting 115,169 stateless persons to UNHCR in 2022.2779 The reported stateless population has steadily increased in the last 5 years.2780 UNHCR outlines that this figure comprises 103,380 stateless Rohingya in Malaysia along with 9,040 non-displaced stateless persons in West Malaysia ‘who may be entitled to Malaysian nationality under the law.’2781 In February 2023, the Home Minister stated that based on statistics from 2013 to 2023, there are 132,272 applications nationwide to become Malaysian citizens .2782 Malaysia has the third largest reported stateless population in the Southeast Asia sub-region, reporting 115,169 stateless persons to UNHCR in 2022. Persons at risk of statelessness A number of groups at risk of or affected by statelessness have been recognised in Malaysia including; persons who have resided in Malaysia since pre-independence as well as their descendants (including individuals of Tamil ethnicity), children of mixed-nationality marriages (through the impact of gender discriminatory nationality laws), indigenous persons (including mobile maritime populations and Orang Asli communities), refugees and irregular migrants (and their children) in Sabah East Malaysia, as well as persons lacking documentation and foundling children.2783 Undetermined nationalities In March 2022 the Chief Minister of Sabah announced that 810,443 residents of Sabah are noncitizens.2786 This figure is almost double the UNHCR 2019 estimate of 450,000 stateless persons in Sabah.2787 Most of this population has lived in Sabah for multiple generations yet lacks documentary proof of their connection to their country of origin (the Philippines and Indonesia). It is unclear whether this population is stateless or entitled to citizenship of either Malaysia, the Philippines or Indonesia.2788 In March 2022 the Chief Minister of Sabah announced that 810,443 residents of Sabah are non-citizens. This figure is almost double the UNHCR 2019 estimate of 450,000 stateless persons in Sabah. Causes of Statelessness Discriminatory nationality laws Children born in Malaysia out of wedlock (or in situations where the marriage is not recognised by the state, notably non-Islamic customary or TABLE 73 Reported stateless persons to the UNHCR Country Malaysia 2019 (year start)2789 2020 (year end)2790 2021 (year end)2791 2022 (year end)2792 108,332 111,289 112,420 115,169 Source: UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement from 2019-2022. 246 STATELESSNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA ASIA PACIFIC (DETAILED VERSION) Children born in Malaysia out of wedlock (or in situations where the marriage is not recognised by the state, notably non-Islamic customary or religious marriages) to a Malaysian citizen father and a mother who is stateless or whose citizenship cannot be ascertained, are also at risk of statelessness due to discriminatory provision that disallow the transfer of nationality from a father outside of wedlock. religious marriages) to a Malaysian citizen father and a mother who is stateless or whose citizenship cannot be ascertained, are also at risk of statelessness due to discriminatory provision that disallow the transfer of nationality from a father outside of wedlock.2793 Malaysia’s gender discriminatory nationality laws place a number of children at risk of statelessness. Notably, children born outside of Malaysia to Malaysian citizen mothers and foreign fathers do not immediately gain citizenship of Malaysia.2794 Malaysia’s most notable gender discriminatory provision denies Malaysian mothers equal rights to confer citizenship to men.2795 While policy exists which provides some pathways to citizenship to children in this situation, DHRRA Malaysia has noted that in practice, the process continues to discriminate and remains largely discretionary.2796 In December 2020, Family Frontiers, a nationality rights advocacy group, and six affected Malaysian mothers challenged the constitutionality of this gender discriminatory provision in Suriani Kempe & Ors (2021).2797 A new parliamentary committee was formed in December 2021 in order to amend the constitution to the benefit of Malaysian mothers.2798 In September 2021, the High Court of Malaysia had ruled that the discriminatory In December 2020, Family Frontiers, a nationality rights advocacy group, and six affected Malaysian mothers challenged the constitutionality of this gender discriminatory provision in Suriani Kempe & Ors (2021). provision breached the constitution, and that Malaysian women shall have equal right as men to confer citizenship to their children.2799 Despite the fact that the decision was later overturned in August 2022, which was condemned by UN experts and rights advocates2800, new amendments to the constitution were announced in June 2023 which were posited to improve the situation of Malaysian mothers.2801 However, while the new amendment would grant equal rights to women in conferring citizenship, an analysis from the University of Melbourne Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness has identified that the new amendments are likely to actually increase, not decrease, the number of people affected by statelessness.2802 Perhaps most notably, the amendments would remove the provision (Schedule 2, Article 1(e)) which grants citizenship to children born in Malaysia who would otherwise be stateless, which will be especially detrimental to childhood and intergenerational statelessness in Malaysia.2803 However, while the new amendment would grant equal rights to women in conferring citizenship, an analysis from the University of Melbourne Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness has identified that the new amendments are likely to actually increase, not decrease, the number of people affected by statelessness. While the legislation allows that any person who is not eligible for automatic citizenship may seek citizenship by registration, safeguarding children from statelessness, very few applicants are accepted as the process is highly discretionary.2804 On the provision of Schedule 2, Article 1(e), the proposed amendments would also change the wording of granting citizenship to those who would otherwise be stateless from “by operation of law” to “by registration”, which would not only make the eligibility of citizenship, in this case, up to the discretion of the Home Minister but would also remove the potential for applicants to seek judicial review by the courts.2805 This means that REPORT 2024 247