Baru Bian said there were “thousands” of stateless Sarawakians who were unemployable as they did not have the proper papers and were vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous employers.

“Imagine how they must feel upon learning that the government will issue special identity cards (ICs) to illegal immigrants in Sabah which might help them find employment,” he said.

Home minister Hamzah Zainudin had said the government would provide special ICs for foreigners in Sabah who had been residing there for many years. This was being done on “humanitarian grounds” to enable them to get jobs and their children to attend school.

But Baru said the home ministry had been “painfully slow” in helping those facing similar problems in Sarawak. This saw families unable to move forward in improving their lives.

“What about a similar humanitarian response for them?”

The Selangau MP said stateless people were in that situation through no fault of their own and were enduring a lot of hardship.

In Sarawak, a large number was stateless as it was too difficult for their parents, who lived in remote places, to go to the nearest town to register their births. Others were unaware of the need to do so, he added.

Baru said he had been assisting many in his constituency with their applications but the response from the home ministry had been “unsatisfactory, to put it mildly”.

“We hope the home minister will direct his officers to show the same humanitarian compassion for our own people and issue them with ICs so that they can be citizens in their own country.”