Statelessness Working Paper Series No. 2017/9
Addressing Statelessness in Malaysia: New Hope and Remaining Challenges
Rodziana Mohamed Razali
Statelessness Working Paper Series No. 2017/9
Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion
December 2017
Author biography
Dr. Rodziana Mohamed Razali has researched statelessness since 2013 and recently completed her
PhD at the National University of Malaysia. Her thesis is entitled “Protection against Statelessness at
Birth: International and Domestic Legal Frameworks of ASEAN Member States with a Special Case
Study on Kota Kinabalu, Sabah”. She was previously in the Malaysian Judicial and Legal Service before
leaving for her Masters of Laws at the University of Melbourne. She is now a lecturer at the Islamic
Science University of Malaysia, an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya (Non-practicing)
and a member of Statelessness Network Asia Pacific (SNAP).
Author email
rodziana@usim.edu.my
Key words
Malaysia—citizenship—identification—legal safeguards—statelessness
Abstract
In Asia and the Pacific, Malaysia is listed as one of the countries which have large populations of
stateless persons (over 10,000). 1 In taking stock of Malaysia’s performance to date in relation to
UNHCR’s goal of ending statelessness in 2024, in particular through Action 1 (Resolving Major
Situations of Statelessness); Action 2 (Ensure that No Child is Born Stateless); and Action 10 (Improve
Quantitative and Qualitative Data on Stateless Persons), this paper looks at some of the recent
progress made and opportunities on the horizon for actions to address statelessness within its
borders. Alongside this, it highlights the remaining intractable hurdles and other emerging challenges,
calling in the end for all stakeholders to tap into different ways of engagement, advocacy and
strategies in overcoming them.
1
Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, The World’s Stateless, Wolf Legal Publishers 2014, p 78; Institute on
Statelessness and Inclusion, The World’s Stateless CHILDREN, Wolf Legal Publishers 2017, p.59
3