NO JOB, NO EDUCATION AND NO COUNTRY

Stateless young man seeks a better future here

- Wong Shiying

His days are spent at the void decks and parks in Clementi where he lives, but when his friends leave for work, Mr Ricqo Rafiezuwan often finds himself alone.

It was the same growing up. He would wait for his friends to return home from school to play football with them.

The 25-year-old has never attended school. He does not know what it is like to be in a noisy classroom, sing the National Anthem during morning assembly, or take an exam.

He taught himself to speak simple English and Malay, but struggles with reading and writing.

Though he was born in Singapore and has never left the country, Mr Rafiezuwan is among 853 stateless people living in Singapore as at Dec 31, 2023. This means he is not recognised as a citizen of any country and has no nationality.

As a stateless adult in Singapore who is not a permanent resident (PR), he is not entitled to subsidised education, healthcare and housing.

He told The Straits Times he was born to an unwed stateless mother who left him in the care of a childless Singaporean couple whom she was friends with.

The couple, now in their 50s, raised him as their son and the family live in a two-room flat in Clementi. Mr Rafiezuwan calls them mum and dad.

His "dad", who works as a cleaner, and his "mum", a housewife, did not know of his statelessness or how to enrol him in school, as they did not have his identity documents at the time.

They tried to get his birth certificate from his relatives while his birth mother was incarcerated, but were not successful.

Mr Rafiezuwan speaks occasionally with his birth mother, who lives in Singapore and is now a PR. She has never applied for PR status for him.

Mr Rafiezuwan's birth extract, which he showed ST, states that he was born in the Singapore General Hospital, with a line that reads: "This child is not a citizen of Singapore at the time of birth."

A birth extract replaces a lost or damaged birth certificate.