Statelessness and the Lives of the Children of Migrants 29 Sabah’s total population of 3.2 million people.6 However, the actual number of ‘foreigners’ is likely to be even higher, since the census figures do not include undocumented migrants.7 Today, foreign workers continue to be found in timber mills and on plantations, as well as in construction, agriculture, transport and service industries, including informal domestic service. Yet, despite this economic reliance on migrants, there is considerable public and political opposition to their presence, and the authorities have initiated various ‘crackdowns’, rounding up and deporting thousands of undocumented workers. Malaysian immigration policy treats migrant labour as ‘fluid’ and unattached. Unskilled and semi-skilled workers (with the exception of domestic workers) are only allowed to stay in Malaysia for five years, after which they should return home and stay for six months before re-entering Malaysia.8 Such workers are not allowed to bring their families with them to Malaysia, or to marry or have children whilst in Malaysia.9 Indeed, there is a very real sense in which the children of migrants are considered ‘illegal’ simply because of being born to foreign workers. This may be one reason why their exclusion from government schools – noted as a serious problem by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education – does not attract much local opposition.10 In reality, and despite such immigration policies, migrant workers have multiple ties and attachments to Sabah, and as people have married and had children, the legal status of their families has become very complicated. Families face problems in applying for and renewing documents, and have their desire for legality exploited by unscrupulous agents, police and others. For a variety of reasons, many of the children of migrants do not have their births registered. These reasons range from lack of knowledge about the registration process, avoidance of hospital birth due to the high cost for foreigners, the irregular migration status of parents (and concomitant fear of being reported to immigration), and parents lack of a marriage certificate.11 6 7 8 9 10 11 Department of Statistics Malaysia, ‘Population Statistics Malaysia’ (2010). <http://www. statistics.gov.my/portal/download_Population/files/population/05Jadual _Mukim_negeri/Mukim_Sabah.pdf> accessed 18 October 2013. Azizah Kassim, ‘Cross-Border Movement of Foreign Workers in Malaysia: A Comparative Analysis’ (2005) 3 Master Builders Journal 78, 82. Ibid 79. Amnesty International, Trapped: The Exploitation of Migrant Workers in Malaysia (2010, ASA 28/02/2010) 15. UNHRC, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Vernor Muñoz Villalobos: addendum: mission to Malaysia (20 March 2009) UN Doc. A/HRC/11/8/Add.2,14. Tenaganita, Acting Today for Tomorrow’s Generation: Regional Conference on Stateless/ Undocumented Children in Sabah (16-18 November 2005, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia) 31-43. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 26-34