Kota Kinabalu: Billionaire entrepreneur Tan Sri Vincent Tan called for humanitarian approaches to address Sabah’s stateless children plight so that they grow up educated and become economically useful to the State.
Tan said he raised this issue with some Sabah leaders, urging them to consider granting the stateless population permanent residency, but on condition they would not be eligible to vote.
He acknowledged the concerns of local indigenous (orang asal) people who fear being outnumbered and the potential impact this would have on the State’s political balance and advocated instead an approach that would provide them access to education and employment opportunities.
Tan, who is also a Tzu Chi Commissioner, recounted his visits to Tawau in 2017 and Sandakan last year, where he saw the dire living conditions of these stateless children.
“In Tawau, I visited a school set up by Tzu Chi Foundation for about 300 stateless children, who were otherwise unable to attend government schools.
“The children were dressed in nice uniforms and were singing songs in Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and English. I was very impressed.
“However, I was deeply saddened by the sight of the children’s humble living conditions in stilt houses and their scavenging at rubbish dumps in search of food and valuable items to sell,” Tan said at the Sabah International Convention Centre, Thursday, where he was the key speaker at the Sabah CEO Master Class 2024 event.
The event was organised by the Sabah Young Business and Industry Leaders Network and in collaboration with the Malaysia International Chamber of Commerce & Industry Sabah Chapter.
“I said to some Sabah leaders that the government must do something about this.
“For example, how many schools can be built? I think Tzu Chi built six or seven.
“Tzu Chi asked permission to do more. In fact, recently they approached me to talk to the Minister of Education to get a few more schools for them to build.
“I spoke to the Minister Fadhlina Sidek. So now she is trying to help and give permission to build more schools. You want to do charity; you need permission also,” he quipped.
“They may be stateless, they cannot go back to where they come from, they do not even have papers. The Philippines do not recognise them as citizens also,” he said.
Saying he is not a Sabahan, but a Malaysian, he said: “We are one country and I want to say Sabah is a great State. You have a lot of opportunity.”
