SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: SOUTHEAST ASIA years), foundlings, unregistered children who have been forcibly displaced due to armed conflict, and persons of Japanese descent.325 It is estimated that as many as 130,000 Sama Bajau (Bajau Laut) community members — who also reside in Malaysia and Indonesia — are at risk of statelessness.326 Additionally, a lack of documentation, specifically among older populations in Singapore, has left persons stateless since the country’s independence in 1965.327 Within Malaysia, multiple populations have also been identified as at risk of statelessness including persons who have resided in Malaysia since pre-independence as well as their descendants (including individuals of Tamil ethnicity), children of mixed-nationality marriages (through the impact of gender discriminatory nationality laws), indigenous persons (including mobile maritime populations and Orang Asli communities), refugees and irregular migrants (and their children) in Sabah (East Malaysia), as well as persons lacking documentation and foundling children.328 SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: SOUTHEAST ASIA to displace their communities, for example in June 2021 some 700 families were ordered to relocate.332 While the Cambodian government since 2019 has reported stateless persons to UNHCR (with the reported population increasing from 57,444 in 2019 to 75,000 in 2021) the true size of the population of ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia without citizenship has been estimated by CSOs such as the Minority Rights Organization to be higher, ranging between 400–700,000 persons.333 population groups including children of returned marriage migrants in Vietnam335 and persons of Chinese, Indian and Nepali descent in Myanmar336 remains uncertain. Stateless Refugees Four countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand) in the region reported populations of stateless refugees to UNHCR in 2021. All of the reported stateless refugees are Rohingya from Myanmar, with Malaysia reporting the largest population (103,380), while Indonesia (641), the Philippines (5), and Thailand (198) all reported comparatively small population groups.337 Members of “highland” communities in Thailand face barriers to acquire citizenship leaving their status uncertain.334 The citizenship status of other Restrictions on the basis of gender FIGURE 17 Causes of statelessness Reported Stateless and Stateless Refugee Population in Southeast Asia Discriminatory Laws Reported Stateless Population Restrictions on the basis of ethnicity Reported Stateless Refugees The interrelation between ethnicity and citizenship is notable in Southeast Asia, specifically in Brunei, Cambodia, and Myanmar. Undetermined Nationalities 200000 Within the Sabha region of Malaysia as many as 810,443 residents of Sabah are seen to be noncitizens.329 This group represents the largest and most notable population of Persons of Undetermined Nationality within Southeast Asia as disagreement exists as to whether this population is stateless or should be considered citizens of either the Philippines, Malaysia, or Indonesia.330 The citizenship laws of Brunei contain both racial and gender discriminatory provisions. The limitation of nationality to certain prescribed ethnic groups, or “indigenous groups of the Malay race” is the primary cause of statelessness in Brunei.338 The largest registered stateless group in the country is persons of Chinese descent who do not fall under one of the prescribed groups.339 150000 100000 50000 Vietnam Timoreleste Thailand Singapore Philippines Myanmar Malaysia Indonesia Cambodia 0 Brunei In Cambodia, the situation of potential hundreds of thousands of persons of Vietnamese descent remains uncertain. While some ethnic Vietnamese have gained identity documentation and have been “integrated” into society, a large number of ethnic Vietnamese living in Cambodia remain unregistered and reside within floating villages on the Tonle Sap Lake.331 This population has faced frequent attempts by the Cambodian government Additionally, ethnic discrimination affects a number of other populations across Southeast Asia. For example, in the process of Thailand nation-building in the 20th century, Thai ethnicity and citizenship were deeply entwined. Members of nine ethnic groups often referred to as ‘hill-tribe’ or ‘highland’ communities living in the northwest of the country have faced intergenerational statelessness due to social exclusion.342 The complicated history of colonisation, war and tensions between Vietnam and Cambodia has led to ethnic Vietnamese residents in Cambodia facing discrimination, social exclusion and denial of citizenship, despite many being entitled to nationality under the letter of the law.343 UNHCR, ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2021’ (June 2022) The most conspicuous example of this is the ethnic discrimination present in the nationality law of Myanmar that has rendered at least a million ethnic Rohingya stateless.340 Denial of citizenship to the Rohingya, as codified in the 1982 citizenship law, has been a key component of the systemic oppression and persecution of the Rohingya people by the government and military of Myanmar prior to the 2021 military coup.341 Gender-discriminatory nationality laws place a number of children at risk of statelessness in Malaysia and Brunei. Notably, children born outside of Malaysia to Malaysian citizen mothers and foreign fathers do not automatically gain Malaysian citizenship.344 Children born in Malaysia out of wedlock (or in situations where the marriage is not recognized by the state, notably non-Islamic customary or religious marriages) to a Malaysian citizen father and a mother who is stateless or whose citizenship cannot be ascertained, are also at risk of statelessness due to discriminatory provision that disallows the transfer of nationality from a father outside of wedlock.345 Gender discriminatory provisions limit a female citizen of Brunei to pass on her nationality to her children, requiring a registration process to be undertaken for citizenship to be recognized (whereas children born to male citizens receive automatic citizenship).346 Women are also limited in their ability to confer nationality onto foreign husbands (while male citizens of Brunei can pass on nationality to foreign wives).347 Additionally, a combination of ethnic discrimination and gender discrimination 58 59 STATELESSNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA ASIA PACIFIC REPORT 2023