Homegrown Statelessness in Malaysia One notable group of persons are Filipino and Indonesian migrants in the state of Sabah. 111 The proximity of the Philippines and Indonesia to Sabah, civil conflicts in the Philippines in the 1970s and 1980s, and the demand for cheap labour in forestry and palm oil industries attracted migration from neighbouring countries. 112 In Sabah, there are two notable populations of migrant workers: Filipinos and Indonesians. 113 Migratory flows from the Philippines and Indonesia can be attributed two reasons. The first is a civil conflict in the southern Philippines between 1972 and 1977 forced people to flee. 114 The Muslim Filipinos that fled to Sabah were recognised as refugees by the UNHCR and initially received special permission to stay and work from Sabah’s chief minister. 115 The second reason is that several industries including forestry and palm oil had a demand for migrant labour driving Sabah to have the highest proportion of foreign workers among Malaysian states. 116 As a result there are many migrants in Malaysia that have come either as refugees or as skilled workers. They and their family members form part of the stateless population in Malaysia. 7S is an eight-year old girl who was born in Malaysia of parents with Indonesian citizenship. Her parents have lived in Malaysia for ten years. 7S’s parents came to Malaysia on a work permit but her father has been without a legal work permit for one year, and her mother without a legal work permit for four years. 7S’s parents stated they cannot afford to pay for the work permits. In 2017, 7S’s mother applied for citizenship for 7S mainly because 7S was not permitted to go to school and her parents could not afford to send her to private school. 117 8S was born in Indonesia but claims not to have any Indonesian citizenship. He is a permanent resident who has lived in Malaysia for 39 years and is married to an Indonesian citizen. 8S is the father of five children. All of his children are stateless. 8S was referred to a lawyer to investigate whether he is entitled to Malaysian citizenship as a result of his long-standing permanent residence in the country. 118 A notable group of stateless refugees is the Rohingya from Myanmar. 119 Approximately 150,000 Rohingya refugees are registered by UNHCR in 111 See generally Azizah Kassim, ‘Filipino Refugees in Sabah: State Responses, Public 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 Stereotypes and the Dilemma over Their Future’ (2009) 47(1) The Southeast Asian Studies 52; Helen Brunt, ‘Statelessness at Sea’ in Laura van Waas and Amal de Chikera (eds), The World’s Stateless Children (Wolf Legal 2017) 290–94; Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network, ‘The Vulnerability of Bajau Laut (Sama Dilaut) Children in Sabah’ (Position March 2015), Paper, <http://www.aprrn.info/1/images/PDF/Bajau_Laut_position_paper_FINAL.pdf>; Camilla Olson, ‘Malaysia: Undocumented Children in Sabah Vulnerable to Statelessness’ Refugees International Bulletin (13 June 2007). See generally Greg Constantine, ‘Malaysia: Held in the Shadow of the Sunrise’, Nowhere People Stories (Online Exhibition, 2015) <http://www.nowherepeople.org/new-page/>. Allerton, ‘Contested Statelessness in Sabah’ (n 2) 255. ibid 254–55. See also Kassim (n 111). Allerton, ‘Contested Statelessness in Sabah’ (n 2) 254–55; Kassim (n 111) 57–58. Allerton, ‘Contested Statelessness in Sabah’ (n 2) 255. Appendix Table 2, Interview with 7S. Appendix Table 2, Interview with 8S. See generally, Confined Spaces (n 1). 119