Law or policy reform enabling acquisition of nationality by registration Malaysia • Political awareness that statelessness persisted among persons of Indian descent, despite the legal provisions providing for their nationality, helped to spur action to identify stateless persons and resolve their situation. • The Government, UNHCR and a local NGO, Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas (DHRRA), collaborated to launch a mapping and registration project that resulted in a large number of persons of Indian descent acquiring Malaysian nationality. • The registration process involved mobile registration teams including communitybased paralegals who provided extensive support to communities. • The mapping exercise resulted in a comprehensive situation analysis with statistics on level of employment, access to education, early marriage, and child labor. • Advocacy and policy recommendations to simplify administrative procedures in citizenship applications resulted in the adoption of policy changes which has helped many stateless persons to acquire Malaysian nationality. Statelessness in Malaysia The stateless population and population at risk of statelessness in Malaysia consists of diverse groups, residing in West and East Malaysia. In West Malaysia, the stateless population or population at risk of statelessness mainly consists of persons of IndianTamil origin, while in East Malaysia the make-up of the population is more complex and includes the maritime community of Bajau Lout, indigenous people living in remote areas of Sabah and Sarawak, descendants of Filipino and Indonesian migrants and street children. The good practices in Malaysia with regard to reducing statelessness mainly concern the population of Indian-Tamil descent in West Malaysia. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, persons of Indian-Tamil origin arrived in Malaysia during British colonial rule to work in public services and rubber plantations. U N H C R > G P P A C T I O N 1 : R E S O LV I N G E X I S T I N G M A J O R S I T U AT I O N S O F S TAT E L E S S N E S S 35