KOTA KINABALU, Oct 21 — The Immigration Department here has criticised local parents who do not register their children’s birth formally, saying this left the minors at risk of being detained as undocumented or stateless later.

Sabah Immigration director Datuk Sh Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said that her department regularly encounters such cases in each raid.

"They deserve to have the documents especially because they have a Malaysian mother and are afforded citizenship even though their father may be a foreigner.

"It is very unfair for the children to go through this process,” said Sitti Saleha, citing a case of a pair of teen siblings left in the care of their paternal grandmother, an IMM13 holder in a squatter colony.

The two – an older sister and a brother – had claimed their mother was a Murut from Tenom who left them after she divorced their father, a Filipino.

Upon a physical examination and investigation, they located the sibling’s elder sister, a MyKad holder who was living in Tenom with their maternal grandmother.

"Not only did the two siblings have the features of the local Murut, but their sister also confirmed her relations to them,” she said, adding that the family had lost contact with their mother.

Due to the evidence in their favour, they were referred to the National Registration Department for further verification.

Sitti Saleha said the siblings have lived like stateless children, without going to school, and had taken on odd jobs to help carve out a living.

"These are some of the problems we have encountered on the ground. We are not cruel. We will investigate their claims, but without the supporting evidence to their claims, we might have had to haul them in because by law, undocumented people are considered illegal immigrants,” she said.

"Of course, there are also those who claim to have local ties, but we are not able to verify them.

"This is concerning our children’s welfare, so we do use discerning factors, but please do cooperate and settle their documents to avoid arrest by the authorities,” she said.