Cover photo: Bajau children in Bohey Dulang, Sabah. The stateless de jure group encompasses, among other conditions, persons who do not have documentation tracing their lineage. A concrete example in the Malaysian context would be the Bajau Laut of Sabah.
The local media and the international press have been strongly drawn to the plight of the Rohingyas, who have been denied citizenship by their government and who are left stranded at sea in their attempt to seek greener pastures. This present humanitarian crisis has stirred up much public interest over the issue of statelessness in the world. More than 120,000 Rohingyas fled Myanmar1 in the last three years, but where the stateless population of the world is concerned, they account for only a mere 1.2%2.
