COMMENT | When we visited Long Menging in November last year, word spread to neighbouring villages.

On the second day, five families from Kampung Bahagia from Long Napir in the district of Limbang, Sarawak travelled several hours with help from a village headperson who chauffeured them to meet us.

Sia Igut and his wife Gasi Mugut said they heard there was a person who could help with identity cards and registrations. They also mistook the reporter as an elected representative, a 'Yang Berhormat'.

Their daughter, Adeline Sia, born in 2010, received her birth certificate but her citizenship status was stated as “yet to be determined”.

Adeline’s birth certificate also erroneously...