Issue of statelessness still unresolved Pix for illustration purposes. SARAWAK has prided itself as a state that has kept away illegal immigrants, but in its own backyard it finds itself in a bind with a host of problems related to its own people. Many indigenous people remain stateless, especially the Penan who have been waiting for decades to be accorded Malaysian citizenship and to be recognised as citizens of Malaysia. Long delays and excessive bureaucracy on the part of the National Registration Department (NRD) have left many applicants in the lurch and their citizenship woes run into three generations. The issue has been made difficult by their nomadic culture, and compounded by rural poverty and illiteracy as most Penans cannot read nor write in Bahasa Malaysia. Almost all of them cannot afford the luxury of travel.