Statelessness in Brunei

Even though statelessness is a widespread issue, it rarely receives the attention it warrants. This thesis focuses on statelessness in Brunei, a country in which the stateless population might account for as much as 35% of the total population (DRL 2013). The aim of this paper is to investigate the production of statelessness and its implications for the people in question. The aim was addressed by conducting a framework analysis on various documents using different conceptual frameworks including citizenship, statelessness and sense of belonging. The findings demonstrate that stringent citizenship requirements, which include the inability of mothers to confer nationality and ethnic requirements that one has to fulfill, coupled with strict naturalization prerequisites, leave a large part of Bruneian society ineligible for citizenship, ergo stateless. Instead people are issued with permanent residency, which provides them with certain rights and privileges, but still puts major limitations on their legal and social membership in Bruneian society. (Less)