KOTA KINABALU: Children of stateless people born in Sabah will be issued a record of birth document, and will no longer get birth certificates.

Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa said the move was to avoid confusion.

He said the documents were not birth certificates nor could they be used to get a citizenship.

“The ‘record of birth’ document is to record the birth of a child. Its colour will be different from a citizen’s birth certificate,” he said when announcing the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Sabah’s illegal immigrant problems yesterday.

Ali said the decision to issue the documents to children of stateless people in Sabah was made after a Cabinet meeting on Nov 14. The decision had been announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during his official visit here on Nov 16.

-Thestar