North Borneo's Isolated Stateless

Synopsis

In regions of Malaysian North Borneo such as the city of Kota Kinabalu, which is otherwise known as a classy tourist destination, illegal slums dot the map. Cobbled together above the waters, the dwellings are home to the "stateless," people who due to their lack of identifying documents effectively belong to no country. Many fled insurgence in the Philippines, and have lived in North Borneo for decades, relying on the support of NGOs to feed their families. Now, with the government enacting a lockdown in order to contain the coronavirus, their very survival is at risk.

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