For two years, a stateless Bajau Laut mother feared she would never see her child again. Born premature, the newborn was allegedly taken from her without consent by the District Welfare Department at the Lahad Datu Hospital.

On Sept 18, three days after Malaysiakini highlighted her plight in an exclusive report about stateless mothers losing their infants, she was reunited with her daughter.

But this turned out to be a bittersweet episode...