In 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) indicated that 4.2 million people worldwide are stateless, with Southeast Asia positioned first. In addition, Malaysia is in second position (108,332) after Thailand (475,009). 

The leading cause of statelessness in Malaysia is the practice of the jus sanguinis principle, which is nationality based on the descent of parents. For that situation, one of the parents needs to be a citizen or permanent resident of Malaysia at the time of their birth. Further, the consequence is that orphaned, abandoned, or illegitimate children are most likely to become stateless. 

At the same time, it will raise issues in Malaysia. Such as birth registration, irregular migration, rights to education, employment, housing, and social security. 

That situation is not an entirely new phenomenon in Malaysia, but for me it is. In the middle of September, one of my Indonesian friends asked me whether I had contact with immigrants in Malaysia. That question was weird because he had already finished his completion seminar and was only waiting for Viva. 

Next, he told me that one professor from a university in the UK, who also was a previous lecturer at my current university. I asked him to join the research. He took that opportunity to learn about interdisciplinary research. 

Fortunately for him, I had contact with some immigrants from my previous volunteer work. My first communication with Ibu Ida (not real name) brought us to explore immigrant asylum for nearly two weeks. My last stop to join my friend was Buku Jalanan Chow Kit (BJCK), a non-government organization that talks about alternative education. 

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I would say that my journey to Chow Kit was unexpected. Not only because of the location but also their story. I knew one volunteer in Buku Jalanan Chow Kit, but he had already moved to another job. 

So, I suggested that my friend contact them through Instagram. A short conversation to explain the purpose of the visit made us start our journey on Monday afternoon.

Chow Kit is located in central Kuala Lumpur. As a suburban area, Chow Kit had been grown since the 50s by the Chinese immigrant community and continued by the Indonesian community from the 80s and people from South Asia, mainly Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepalese. 

The interaction between identities shaped Chow Kit has many interesting attractions and foodie places. Furthermore, Chow Kit is known as a red light district in Kuala Lumpur, mostly for housing migrant groups and also home to several street children. 

The realization of the high number of street children who were playing around the Chow Kit area while waiting for their parents to finish their jobs drove a group of young people to invite them to a book club. The initiative aims to engage street children to read and/or how to learn to read. It is how Buku Jalanan Chow Kit started in 2012. 

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Buku Jalanan Chow Kit is located in an old building with five floors in total. For the Selangor area, my friend and I needed to change transportation 3 times, starting with BRT – LRT and then Monorail. Next, we needed to walk. Unfamiliar neighborhood made us dependent on Google Maps and we spent around a two-and-a-half-hour journey to reach there. 

But, the location and the design of Buku Jalanan Chow Kit impressed me in so many ways. The office and study rooms were located on the second floor while they started a small entrepreneurship shop; i.e., kopitiam on the first floor. 

Before you go inside the office, you need to press the bell and put your shoes in the shoe box provided. On the inside, Buku Jalanan Chow Kit has a kitchen, bookshelves full of English or Malay language, and communal areas. It also showed that Buku Jalanan Chow Kit got many achievements as an organization or from students because they put many trophies and certificates.

After waiting for around 30 minutes, we talked with two teachers – Ahmed and Ikram (not their real name) – who joined Buku Jalanan Chow Kit from the beginning. 

They told us that most children who joined came from Indonesia. This is because many Indonesian immigrants stayed around Chow Kit. They said that they are alternative schools mostly for undocumented children. 

If the children possibly join a public school, then they suggest they join it. Although after school they still can visit Buku Jalanan Chow Kit to wait for their parents.  

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Our first meeting only focused on discussing the purpose of our visit. At the same time, the two teachers told us the story about Chow Kit. One of them is about their position and relationship with the government. 

“The government recognizes our existence. But it is a passive acknowledgment. We can give our aspiration, but at the same time, we still need to do advocacy so it can be implemented,” Ikram said.

They indicated that they sometimes felt hopeless when the apparatus took their children or the parents of their children because of the lack of identity cards. 

“They cannot bring anything inside the cell, even a phone. They always search for small pieces of paper, for example, from a pack of cigarettes or anything to write a number. So, people can come and get them. If not, they will stay there for a long time, and sometimes we don’t know where they are,” continued Ikram. 

They confessed that they didn’t know the condition of the cell because usually, the mothers would start crying when they tried to ask about their experiences. Furthermore, they talked to us about the children’s education. 

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They explained to us that their school was not like other schools. They would make a different theme every semester and end it with projects. At the same time, they would categorize children based on their abilities. So, it would not align between their age and grades.

Currently, BJCK works with Malaya University to create a space for immigrant children who finished their education at BJCK to continue at the university level. They are starting the trial with three children this year.   

Next, they told us about their first meeting with the children. 

“Before we started our alternative school, did you know what their dream was?” Ahmed asked us. Automatically, we shake my head:

“Become a football player”

“Why?” I asked. I didn’t know why becoming a football player was important. Maybe because they were good at it? I thought.

“Because If they become a football player, they will automatically gain citizenship from their club.” 

OH. 

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For me, it became a contradictory fact when I read or heard from other children around me. It was common for teachers to ask about children’s dreams in elementary school. Or it would become a topic to ask during a reunion, family gathering, or when we started university or our first day at our first job. “Is it what you dreamt when you were a kid?” Or “Is it your dream job?” And everybody usually would tell us about their old obsession and “I want to succeed” was a common answer. 

Unfortunately, for immigrant children, success was not their priority, citizenship was.