Kota Kinabalu: Merotai Assemblyman Pang Yuk Ming urged the Government to view seriously the increasing number of stateless kids in his constituency who are getting married despite being underaged and producing families of their own.
He said these children being the results of liaisons between locals and foreigners are already stateless before marriage and it only complicates matters when they bear children, in turn.
Pang, who is State Assistant Minister of Infrastructure Development, said these young mothers form the second or third generation from the previous influx of illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries.
Their parents are still around or have returned to their country of origin under the repatriation exercise.
"If you visit some of the villages there, you will come across mothers as young as 14, 15 or 16 while their spouses are slightly older or below 20.
They are already breeding like rabbits. If left unchecked, Sabah is bound to see a population explosion stemming from these stateless kids.
"Being a vicious cycle, the children from these young marriages will also start reproducing at a young age. So by the time the first batch of young mothers are in their thirties, they will have become grandmothers," he said when met at the LDP Central Youth Committee's Loh Sang gathering with media representatives.
According to Pang, who is also LDP Vice-President and Deputy Youth Leader, the child marriages are not registered with the authorities, and likewise, their children's births.
He cited the case of a girl aged between 14 and 16 with two kids (a two-year-old, and the other in her arms) at Kg Sungai Imam in Merotai.
"When I first met her, I thought the two-year-old was her sister.
The girl's husband is also a stateless kid. Both have no birth certificate.
They are living in a hut by the river.
"The young mother claims that her own mother is a local from Semporna and has a birth certificate while her father is a Filipino but she does not know his whereabouts.
"We suspect there are also cases of child marriages in other villages like Kg Pasir Puteh," he said.
Pang said there are also instances of foreign "stateless kids" 'marrying' local Chinese or Malay men in the Tawau area.
"Most of the time, such marriages are not officially registered, so when their children are born out of wedlock, the births are not registered as well and thus become 'stateless'."
He suggested that a survey be conducted not only in Merotai but also throughout the state to establish the actual number and status of "stateless kids".
"Their presence has huge social implications for the State.
Definitely, it will have an impact on planning for education, health and other public facilities."
Pang cited a smart girl from an urban area in Tawau who could not be admitted to Form One as her birth certificate stated that her father is a local and her mother a Filipino.
"Her parents are devoid of a marriage certificate and to make things worse, the mother has since divorced and returned to her country.
This is among the social woes plaguing our society."
He concurred with the view of certain quarters that "stateless children" should be given some form of education or skills training.
"Unlike the Indonesian kids who have access to education, many of the 'stateless kids' in my constituency are offspring of mixed marriages where one parent could be a Filipino, Indonesian or local," he said.
Given the current scenario, Pang said it is not surprising that Tawau's non-revenue water (NRW) rate is about 60 to 65 per cent.
"This is reflected in a discrepancy in the registration of consumers by the SESB and Water Department.
While official figures indicate there are over 500,000 electricity consumers, the Water Department's statistics point to only over 400,000 consumers.
"Definitely, there is pilfering of water supply somewhere, other than leakage."
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