Alias, who only attended two years of kindergarten, is seen with Jackson.
LAWAS (May 26): While his friends go to school to learn and play, Alias Ating has been spending his ‘school days’ in the jungle collecting produce, fishing, and growing vegetables with his grandmother not far from their village in Long Segaman, near here.
Alias, 11, would have been in Primary 5 this year but due to his citizenship status, he never had the chance to enrol in any public school.
He only attended kindergarten for two years at Kampung Sahabat here.
Because he never had the opportunity to go to school, Alias said he does not know how to read and can barely write.
“I can write a few words, but I do not know how to read,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Alias said he envies his friends who can go to school every day, while he is stuck at home with his grandmother.
His father Jackson Cham Raut, 41, who works as a mechanic, is unable to spend much time with him due to his job.
“I wish I can go to school with my friends. I wish I have the opportunity like them to study and meet new friends and teachers,” said Alias.
Because he spends a lot of time with his grandmother, Alias said he loves going into the jungle to fish and hunt.
“Since I have so much time, I usually go fishing and hunting in a jungle near the village. Sometimes, I’ll accompany my grandmother planting vegetables,” he said.
Born on Jan 6, 2011 at Lawas Hospital to an undocumented mother and a Malaysian father, Alias’ status is listed as ‘Undetermined’ on his birth certificate because both his parents were not legally married until five months after his birth.
“We (husband and wife) went to JPN Lawas back then where they asked for our marriage certificate and his mother’s international passport.
“We only had our marriage certificate but not his mother’s international passport, which stopped us from submitting our application,” he said, using the Malay acronym for the National Registration Department.
Jackson said not long after that, Alias’ mother left their home and never returned.
“The last time I heard of her was from someone else, who said that she had remarried.”
According to Jackson, he had been trying to correct Alias’ birth certificate to include his name but without any success.
In February last year, he went to JPN Lawas once again to apply for the correction to be made on his son’s birth certificate to include him as the father.
However, a letter from JPN Lawas dated May 6 this year said the application to include his name in his son’s birth certificate had been rejected.
The letter sighted by The Borneo Post explained that the application was rejected as permission was needed from Alias’ mother (to include Jackson’s name as the father in the birth certificate).
“I was devastated because the reason why I want my name to be included in my son’s birth certificate is for him to follow my citizenship.
“Once my son is recognised as a citizen, he can go to school.”
Jackson said he has nowhere else to turn to, and is worried for his son who will soon turn 12.
“My son is already 11 years old. He should be in Primary 5. All I want is for him to attend school so that he can learn to read and write and possibly succeed in his future,” he said.
He hoped the state government and the relevant parties would assist him in the matter so that his son could go to school as soon as possible before it was too late.