What to do with the stateless people in Malaysia?January 04, 2023

By Stephen Ng

Malaysia has only two options to choose from: either kick out all the stateless people from the country OR to give them a new lease of life and allow them to contribute towards the economic development of the country.

Some of them have parents who may come from Thailand, Indonesia or the Philippines, but growing up in Malaysia all their lives, their parents’ motherland is just as alien to them as an earthling landing on Mars.

Sabahans often begrudge the infiltration of Filipinos into their territory, but can anyone tell me who exactly is to blame if our borders are so porous to both neighbouring countries.

We are to blame

Is it because of corruption? If yes, what has the Government done all these years to arrest the problem?

Didn’t we have the Royal Commission of Inquiry and most of us know about Project IC, but no one has been criminalized for it, why?

After the RCI, people are just lukewarm and keeping quiet, instead of suggesting that the government should do anything about it.

Even if a few people pick up their pens to speak, would the voice be loud enough for the government to take the suggestions seriously?

Malaysians have themselves to blame for the problem of statelessness either through human trafficking or our porous borders.

Think About Their Future

Some young people are less fortunate as their parents did not have the means to obtain citizenship, either through the legal or illegal channels.

Some of these children born in the country are raised here their entire lives. Without citizenship, what will become of them? Without an education, will they instead turn into thugs?

Please think of the future of these young people who will still be living in our midst. Think of them as your own children, if some day you have to flee the country with your children.

We are all sons and daughters of Adam, from the three main stocks of the human race. Whether “Caucasoid,” “Negroid,” or “Mongoloid,” our blood types are basically A, B, AB and O groups. It is red, not green or yellow.

Therefore, I appeal to all Malaysians, especially the Unity Government now under the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim, to just give stateless people, especially the younger generation their blue Identity Cards and allow them to have a future and contribute towards the development of the country’s economic growth.

A word to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Azalina Othman Said: the stateless issue does not only affect children who were born overseas to Malaysian mothers, but also young and old alike born and raised in Malaysia without citizenship.

All Members of Parliament should start looking at the Hansard dated 30 January 1962, and study how this amendment to the Federal Constitution has brought so much pain to the stateless people.

It is time to embrace the plurality of our social fabrics and build a rainbow nation like South Africa after the dismantling of the apartheid regime. We are already three decades behind the nation which Nelson Mandela rebuilt based on reconciliation.

As fellow Malaysians, we can capitalize on each other’s strength to compete with the rest of the world and become the next Malaysian Tiger, altered from its original moniker after a Sarawakian brother told me why Sarawakians feel they are left out in this country they are part of.

So wonderful to see the fruits of their labour

After reading my blogpost, a brother whom I met at a Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship, Freehold Tan wrote: "I agree 100% with your suggestion. I've forwarded your article to my church group and FGB group., hopefully everyone will plant some papaya trees in their compound. God bless you!"

It was encouraging to read that seven years ago, he helped a friend to plant a durian orchard in Hulu Langat. Now, the orchard has 50 trees of Musang King, 20 trees of Teka and 10 treese of Black Thorns. The trees are fruiting now.

Two weeks ago, I harvested one kg of chillies.

Another sister, Grace Wang sent me pictures of what she has been cultivating. She wrote, "Today's harvest." Her husbands supplies an organic agroproduct to farmers which helps to improve absorption of nutrients in the roots.

A sister from Sarawak, Hellen Gurmek who studied theology together with me, responded with a photograph of the durians which she has just harvested. The trees are a legacy from her late father's efforts.

She then sent me another picture to show me the joy of having her harvest of soursop. Anyone cares to try?

Some of Hellen and her husband, Kenneth Silek's plants also produce beautiful flowers which are edible.

It is so amazing to see the responses from more people. A sister, Esther Lim also sent me some pictures. She has also started planting some melons from a flower pot.

Melon grown in a flower pot

Help Improve National Food Securirty and Reduce Inflation

Dear Pastors, Seminary Principals, Church / Cell Leaders, Brothers and Sisters

We know that the country is suffering from high inflation yet are we doing sometihng about it?

Allow me to share some ideas with pastors. There are over 100 pastors in this broadcast list, and each pastor may represent anything between 100 to 3000 members. If each church is able to produce just one tonne of papayas and one tonne of jackfruits, just think how much we can produce collectively. Didn't the Lord say, "Be fruitful and multiply" not only to the first human couple, but also to the plants and animals?

Let the Government then help the farmers to export their local fruits to Singapore, where the fruits can be a good source of vitamins for them too. Farmers can also earn in Sing Dollars for their produce.

You can plant these fruit trees either in your church compound or encourage each member to at least plant a few fruit trees in their homes. If they are living in the condominiums, they can encourage their management to start planting fruit trees.

People living on landed properties can also suggest to their resident associations to plant these fruit trees. Look at the feedback I received from people who read this post.

Why papayas and jackfruits?

These are the two easiest fruit trees to plant for someone who has no green fingers like me. This is just a good starting point.

For the past six months or more, we have been able to enjoy the papayas and bless our neighbours, too. Organically grown papayas are also a lot sweeter. It's also a good way to throw your food wastes. Just dig a hole next to the papaya tree and put a container with a cover. Make sure that the other end is open to the soil. (Click the photo below to read more)

Jackfruits are also not difficult to grow. The trees are not big compared to the rambutan trees, but one fruit can be shared out with many families. You can also give away to the orphanages and homes for the elderly.

Ideas of What You can Do with the Fruits

• Enjoy the fruits every now and then.

• Give them to neighbours.

• Give the fruits to orphanages and homes for the elderly.

• Sell them in church to raise funds for charity.

• Provide them for fruits fellowship meetings for your cell groups and Alpha meetings.

• Give them to seminaries nearby where the student pastors can enjoy the fruits.

• Give them to schools so that kids can enjoy the local fruits. Spend an hour or so to supervise and you will see the children enjoying the fruits of your labour.

Please share this idea to all your church members and friends. It is just ONE link that you share on your chat group or broadcast list.

Let's start with something simple first. And if we can make an impact, others may also follow the trend that we set.

Maybe by next Christmas, you can have your Jackfruit Christmas trees on your church compound (any creative person can easily think of how to turn the jackfruit or papaya tree into a Christmas tree with the Christmas deco).

And, have a Christmas event with all these fruits served directly from the tree? If you do, please invite the press.

May the Lord bless this project since He has already given us so much sunshine and rain!