populations living in boats or in stilt houses in coastal areas or on islands. Many do not have identity documents and their births are often not registered. There are no estimates available as to the overall number of Bajau Laut affected by statelessness in Malaysia, but the number of children affected is thought to be high due to their high birth rates, migratory lifestyle and lack of documentation. Other populations of Bajau Laut people also reside in parts of the Philippines and Indonesia. Some groups still migrate between these three countries, which comprise their historical domain.16 People of Indian Origin 23. In west Malaysia, there are at least 11,500 stateless persons. The majority of this population are of Tamil ethnicity and whose ancestors were brought from India to Malaysia through a labour recruitment system (“kanganys”) in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when the territory now known as Malaysia (then Malaya) was under British colonial rule. In 1957, when Malaysia declared its independence, many ethnic Indian Tamils did not obtain Malaysian citizenship due to illiteracy and lack of awareness of the importance of obtaining citizenship. Currently, a significant proportion of communities of Indian Tamil origin in Malaysia lack the necessary documentation that would allow them to prove their intergenerational links to Malaysia and their Malaysian citizenship.17 This is often because they have historically faced significant barriers in accessing civil documentation due to the discriminatory application of laws and policies and their isolation. 24. Importantly, the Government of Malaysia has taken several steps to address some of the documentation and statelessness challenges faced by this community. In 2011 and 2017 the Malaysian Government carried out identification and registration programmes for populations of Indian origin in West Malaysia, through the respective MyDaftar and MegaMydaftar campaigns.18 The campaigns were developed in collaboration with political parties and Indian community-based, non-governmental organisations. 25. In April 2017, the Malaysian Prime Minister launched the Malaysian Indian Blueprint (MIB). The first of its kind, the MIB is a national strategy for resolving various human rights issues faced by the Indian community including access to education, housing, employment, and documentation. The MIB also provides entrepreneurial, trade and social development opportunities to the Indian community. Significantly, the MIB commits the Malaysian Government to resolving statelessness and documentation issues within five years of implementation. However, to date, there has been limited progress in addressing historical cases of statelessness in Malaysia 19 26. In August 2017, based on DHRRA’s advocacy and assistance to stateless populations in Malaysia over the last decade (primarily with persons of Indian origin), DHRRA Malaysia submitted recommendations for resolving statelessness in Malaysia to Representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Minister of Health (who was appointed to oversee the implementation of the MIB). The recommendations focus on improving administrative procedures to ensure that individuals can more easily acquire or confirm citizenship; resolving statelessness amongst children in Malaysia; promoting reform of Malaysia’s nationality laws and policies that discriminate on the basis of gender; and resolving the status of individuals who are permanent residents in Malaysia, but do not have Malaysian citizenship or citizenship of any other country (this is the largest registered cohort registered with DHRRA Malaysia). 16 DHRRA’s Strategic Plan: Resolving Statelessness http://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/imvisible-malaysia/ 18 http://sedic.my/mib/2017/09/18/mega-mydaftar-campaign-2017/ 19 Malaysian Indian Blueprint, 2017 17 6