KOTA KINABALU – Sabah registered 415 complaints on human rights violations, the highest between the peninsula and East Malaysia, according to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) 2019 annual report.
According to the report, Suhakam’s Sabah office received a total of 638 complaints in 2019, of which 415 were human rights cases.
Of that, the right to nationality tops the list of complaints received by Suhakam Sabah last year with 294 cases, followed by arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile at 38 cases; and the right to native customary land at 12 cases.
Out of the 415 human rights cases, Suhakam Sabah only managed to resolve 177 complaints.
Suhakam commissioner Datuk Godfrey Gregory Joitol said most of the complaints were on nationality issues such as birth certificates, MyKad, and so on.
“It is quite difficult to gauge if the complaints are reflective of the human rights situation in the country, including Sabah,” said Joitol.
Joitol said complaints in Sabah were also mainly on citizenship and land issues.
“Human rights are another issue. Of the 223 (non-human rights) complaints received, Suhakam Sabah can only solve about 20-30% of complaints,” he said.
Suhakam Sabah officer Aflin Zaim Dino Abdullah said most of the 223 complaints were of documentation.
“In Sabah, the issue is complex and very complicated – such as undocumented persons getting married to locals and their kids being affected wherein they cannot go to schools or government hospitals. Nevertheless, we are working closely with the Home Ministry to sort out the citizenship issues,” said Aflin.
“Native issues are mostly on basic infrastructure and land issues, so Suhakam Sabah will continue to work with the relevant state government agencies to sort these issues out.”
Suhakam commissioner Jerald Joseph said the number of complaints is not indicative of the country.
“Sabah is more a case of unresolved issues of de facto statelessness – people without state or nationality,” said Joseph.
“Suhakam becomes their last resort, with hope that some resolution can be achieved.
“It shows the desperation and urgency that something must be done on the matter in Sabah.”
Suhakam commissioner Datuk Mah Weng Kwai said statelessness in Sabah is a work in progress.
“Our target is to have a national enquiry on statelessness in the country, including Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.
“We are going to start with research on the terms of reference for the inquiry and focus on statelessness and its consequences in Sabah.” – The Vibes, November 23, 2020
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