“This is my first-time setting foot in Indonesia,” claimed Sarah (not her real name) with a confused, anxious face. Sarah, an Indonesian national, was born in Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia, of Indonesian parents and had lived there all her life. However, in 2018, together with her two children, she was deported to Indonesia through Nunukan, North Kalimantan, to her “home” country, which did not recognize her as its citizen. Sarah, de jure, is an Indonesian as a consequence of Indonesia holding to the jus sanguinis principle, or acquiring citizenship based on that of the parents. However, before the Indonesian consulate in Tawau assessed her upon a referral from the Malaysian Immigration Office, she had not been acknowledged either as a Malaysian or an Indonesian. She lived as a “stateless”, undocumented person. Thousands of people like Sarah live in Sabah,...

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