On 27 August the Bar Council’s constitutional law and human rights committee organised a forum on statelessness, titled Statelessness: Malaysians in Waiting.
The Malaysian Bar urges the banking industry and regulators to take immediate and meaningful action to redress the economic and financial exclusion faced by stateless persons in our country. It is time to end such discrimination and prejudice once and for all.
The right to a nationality is a fundamental human right, enshrined in Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Recognition as a citizen carries with it the right to suffrage, access to social security, healthcare, public education and the pursuit of gainful employment.
Statelessness is not an abstract legal category. For many stateless persons, the absence of a recognised identity document creates a near-total barrier to accessing the banking system.
It beggars belief that in this day and age, the banking industry and its regulators have yet to deploy biometrics and other modern and sophisticated tools available to them to achieve financial inclusion.
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Barriers to banking
Financial exclusion is a direct consequence of Malaysia’s unresolved nationality gap. The current banking framework excludes stateless individuals through administrative hurdles and complications (if not excuses):
Identity and onboarding barriers: Without a MyKad, individuals lack a recognised identity document, preventing them from passing standard banking identity checks or using digital onboarding services tied to national identification chips.
However, this can be remedied by accepting alternative forms of documentation, such as school and medical records and by adopting innovative technology-based means to verify customer identity, such as biometrics.
Regulatory exclusions and asymmetries: Bank Negara requires banks to offer low-cost basic accounts to vulnerable groups, but eligibility is explicitly restricted to citizens and permanent residents.
While Bank Negara allows UN refugee agency-issued documents as identity proof for registered refugees at a bank’s discretion, this exception excludes stateless persons in Malaysia.
The economic cost: By being denied formal accounts, stateless individuals are trapped in a cash-only existence, unable to store money safely, receive formal wages or start legal businesses, leaving them exposed to wage theft and financial exploitation.
Aligning with the UN sustainable development goals
The Malaysian Bar echoes the urgent reminder delivered by Suhakam commissioner Melissa Mohd Akhir, who highlighted during the forum that the following UN sustainable development goals provide a critical, evidence-based framework for inclusive financial reform that the banking industry should adhere to:
- Goal 1 – No poverty: Financial exclusion traps stateless populations in informal, low-wage work, making it impossible to accumulate savings or build financial resilience. Providing basic account access breaks intergenerational poverty cycles.
- Goal 8 – Decent work and economic growth: Without standard banking access, workers cannot safely receive wages or access formal social safety nets like Sosco and the Employeers Provident Fund (EPF). Formalising their access allows them to contribute safely and fully to the broader economy.
- Goal 10 – Fewer inequalities: Denying basic financial infrastructure creates a multi-tiered society where undocumented and stateless groups are forced into cash-only subeconomies, widening the economic divide.
- Goal 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions (specifically, target 16.9 – legal identity for all): Providing interim, transitory identity documents, expanding the MyKas (temporary resident’s identity card) utility or a birth certificate directly aligns with ensuring legal identity and access to public and financial services for all individuals within a territory.
Legal architecture
Our courts have read Article 5 of the Federal Constitution (“life”) expansively.
The Court of Appeal [in Tan Tek Seng v Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Pendidikan & Anor (1996)] in Malaysia has held that “life” is not mere existence but includes the right to livelihood and to live with dignity.
In a modern economy, the right to earn a living with dignity is inseparable from having basic financial access.
Conclusion
To overcome these systemic barriers and uphold human dignity, the Malaysian Bar calls upon the banking industry, the relevant authorities and key stakeholders to commit to concrete measures to extend basic and meaningful banking eligibility to stateless persons through the use of biometrics or other alternative modern means.
The Malaysian Bar also calls on the government to unconditionally and without reservations accede to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
There has been a failure of regulation and leadership in the banking industry in this space. This is unacceptable in this day and age. No one should be denied meaningful financial inclusion, the right to work and the right to life for pedantic or formalistic reasons.
We call upon the banking industry, Bank Negara and the relevant authorities to stop turning a blind eye and to provide meaningful and humanitarian solutions to those in need and without the need for court proceedings. – Bar
Anand Raj is the president of the Malaysian Bar.
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