ACTIVIST-cum-surgeon Dr Chong Eng Leong says there are two types of stateless locals in Sabah.
One does not have birth certificates due to ignorance or logistics constraints at birth. Or the parents despite being locals have no valid marriage certificate. The other is when one parent is undocumented.
Children born outside marriage to adults who are stateless end up being stateless as well, just like a baton being passed to another generation.
Charles, a 24-year-old Sino Dusun from Ulu Papar, spent his childhood dodging the authorities because he lacked identification papers.