Social Stigma Continues to Burden Street Children in Sabah

 

KOTA KINABALU: The social stigma often hampers the necessary assistance to be extended to the undocumented children. 

ANAK (Advocates for Non-discrimination and Access to Knowledge) Community Engagement Lead Cameliah Thomas said the perception that these children are troublemakers or potential criminals makes many members of the public reluctant to offer the support they desperately need.

“Sadly, society often only sees them as beggars or social nuisances, instead of children who need protection and education. 

“These children did not choose this life on the streets. But the existing system pushes them into the shadows because no documents mean no access to formal schooling,” she told the New Straits Times.

ANAK, which is based in Sabah, provides paralegal aid on civil registration, advocating on statelessness and immigration issues, researching marginalized communities, running health and human rights communication campaigns, and managing food and health supply distribution to underserved groups.

She said most of those street kids that ANAK is working with come from stateless communities and face documentation issues, particularly among the Bajau Laut people who live along the coasts and islands of Sabah.

“The absence of identification documents completely excludes them from access to education, healthcare, and social protection. 

“In such vulnerable conditions, they are forced to take to the streets begging, selling small items like plastic bags at markets, and many risk exploitation. 

“That’s why we conduct numerous awareness programmes to educate communities that these children are not criminals, they are victims of circumstance,”

ANAK is also urging the government to view the issue of stateless and street children as a pressing human rights concern. 

Their main demands include ensuring education access for all children regardless of citizenship status, formally recognising alternative education centres already assisting these children, and providing solutions for identity documentation.

“We want the government to truly embody the principle of 'no child left behind'. 

“No child should be left out, let alone trapped in a cycle of poverty simply because of a citizenship status they never chose,” she said. 

For children of Indonesians, there are 229 community learning centres across Sabah for them to access education.

Since 2023, Sabah government has set up a temporary protection centre in the state capital which also includes basic education for those children. 

In May, the Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to strengthen efforts in making the city safer and enhancing access to quality education for all children.

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