APPENDIX X: News articles on statelessness Article A. Living in a sea of trash: Sabah’s stateless children face bleak future By AMIR YUSOF Tuesday, 28 May 2019 These stateless Bajau Laut children cannot go to a public school or find a job. SANDAKAN, Sabah: On most afternoons, Hassan Suhidin and his younger brother, Khairul, would climb down the rickety wooden planks of their village into the rancid shallow waters underneath. The coastal areas surrounding the island, Pulau Berhala, were covered in garbage, animal carcasses and human waste, due to the absence of a waste management system. Seemingly oblivious to the murky waters, the brothers would tread around barefooted collecting plastic bottles, wooden planks or metal sheets — anything that could potentially be sold for pocket money. Hassan Suhidin and his younger brother, Khairul, collect plastic, wood and metal pieces along the beach below their home. (Photo: Amir Yusof) “We never really got used to the smell, but we don’t have a choice,” said Hassan, 12. “What do we do with them? We keep them and in time of need when we have no more food, we’ll sell them and use the money,” he added. Farm animals owned by the Bajau Laut community are also impacted by the trash situation in Kampung Berhala. (Photo: Amir Yusof) The pair are among hundreds of stateless children on Pulau Berhala forced to grow up amid harsh living conditions. The island, located about 10km off the coast of Sandakan, is home to about 5,000 people. It is not clear how many among them are Malaysian citizens. In the recent Sandakan by-election, just over 300 people cast their votes. The ethnic Bajau Laut people, or sea gypsies fled to Sabah in the 1970s to escape the war between the Philippine government and the independent movement by the Moro National Liberation Front, resettling in many parts of the state such as Lahad Datu, Semporna and Sandakan. In the eyes of the Malaysian government, they do not exist. 72