Stateless PRs' quest to belong continues

Aaron Alwines
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

STATELESS residents in Brunei are backing the point made by Yang Berhormat Pehin Kapitan Lela Diraja Dato Paduka Goh King Chin on their plight of facing difficulties during international travel and inability also owning homes due to their status, during the sixth sitting of the Ninth Legislative Council Session on Thursday.

The LegCo member representing Persons Who Have Achieved Distinction said that permanent residents holding an International Certificate of Identity (ICI) are still facing problems when travelling abroad because immigration officials doubt the validity of ICIs.

Eric Wong, born and raised in Brunei, said that although his experience studying and travelling in the UK and Canada had been relatively normal he always had to wait longer than others.

Eric who now works in the banking industry said that he also had to fly to Singapore for the sole purpose of obtaining his visa to study in Canada. "Everywhere you go you must have a visa. I'm probably used to it now, since we have no choice. What control do we have?"

Tan Pei Chia, who had also studied abroad, said going through foreign immigration officials has "always been a difficult experience, whether it is for studies or travels".

"Most of the time, I'm asked to stay behind and the last to get through immigration so that they can conduct a thorough check on my personal details. Apart from treating me with suspicion, I get bombarded with questions such as how long do I intend to stay in their countries, what am I studying and whether I intend to return to Brunei."

Eric also pointed out he had recently heard that he could not visit certain countries including Dubai and Vietnam as they did not recognise the ICI documentation.

Lim Wei Xin said: "While I am thankful that YB Pehin Goh keeps bringing up this longstanding issue every year, I doubt printing 'State of Brunei' would make a difference. The moment foreign authorities see ICI, they will still doubt our reasoning for visiting or studying in their countries."

"ICI is not a passport, but a travelling document which does not recognise us as a citizen belonging to any country. In other words, we do not exist," she added.

To some stateless residents, the issue of ICI is just the tip of the iceberg of difficult issues that they have to face.

Eric argued that the issue of property ownership is his biggest worry.

"It all comes back to the problem of owning property under your own name, we are born here and we treat Brunei as our home already."

It is a basic need to own a home, to feel secure according to Eric. "There is no control over it, what are our options? Renting houses or just owning apartments? There was the issue of using the power of attorney to protect to our interest but in the end we officially we cannot have it (property) under own name."

Talking more broadly about the issue of those stateless, Zareena Amiruddin, a UBD student said: "I do know what it means for the country you call home not to recognise you as one of their own. At the end of the day, being stateless means you are automatically at a disadvantage to everyone else, and we are knowingly allowing people and their children to be disadvantaged."

To this, Christine Lim added: "Whether it is ICI issues or not being able to enjoy house ownership rights, it all boils down to lack of citizenship. As long as stateless PRs are not recognised as a citizen, we have no place to call home. Our hearts may be in Brunei, but unfortunately the country is not willing to accept us even though many were born and raised here for generations."

"We've studied Bahasa Melayu from Primary One to Secondary Five, so what is the use of taking the language examination again? Not only is it redundant, a citizenship exam cannot really test how well we know Brunei, nor can it test our loyalty to the nation. This statelessness issue doesn't only affect stateless PRs, it also gives a bad impression of the country's unwillingness to resolve this decades-old issue."

Dipetik dari - The Brunei Times