Arrest of stateless teen in Malaysia highlights plight of Sabah’s 1 million non-citizens

2026-03-16 - 11:56

The arrest of a 17-year-old stateless teenager during a school outing to buy Eid clothes at a Sabah mall for allegedly failing to show valid residence papers, has returned scrutiny to Malaysia’s treatment of undocumented people. Niko Ansboy, a student at Borneo Komrad, an alternative school for stateless children, was waiting outside a store during a school trip to the 1Borneo Hypermall when police detained him on Sunday. He was stopped by officers patrolling after the Kota Kinabalu District...