Stateless youth Ricqo Rafiezuwan once likened his existence to that of a ghost – his presence known to and noticed by only a few people.

Without formal education, jobless and strapped for cash, the 25-year-old felt inferior. He rarely left the Clementi estate, where he lives and grew up, and has never stepped out of Singapore.

That changed after The Straits Times reported in September on the challenges he and two other stateless individuals faced living here without citizenship or permanent residency, from rules that prevented them from opening bank accounts to uncertainty over healthcare provisions.

After struggling for months to secure employment because of his residency status, Mr Rafiezuwan said he will start work in November as an operation executive for co-living operator The Assembly Place, which rents out accommodation with communal facilities.

The report sparked an outpouring of support – from offers of help with the English language and training to jobs and meals at restaurants.

The young man, who had been reluctant to draw attention to himself and was content to exist in a quiet corner, said he has been overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers.

“The people who offered encouragement, who said they believe in me... it feels like they see me. It makes me feel like I should believe in myself,” he said.

Although he peppered his answers to ST in an earlier interview with jibes about his lack of formal education, he had no self-deprecating comebacks this time.

Mr Rafiezuwan was born in Singapore in October 1999 to an unwed stateless mother, who placed him in the care of a childless Singaporean couple with whom she was friends.

His biological mother, who was incarcerated for a period of time, eventually became a permanent resident (PR). But she never applied for him to become a Singaporean or PR.

The absence of documents such as a birth certificate meant the couple who raised him as their own son could not register him in a school.

With his stateless status and no formal education, Mr Rafiezuwan struggled to land a job.

This was until the founder and chief executive of The Assembly Place, Mr Eugene Lim, saw the report and contacted ST and the Foundation of Rotary Clubs Singapore Family Service Centre (FRCS FSC) in Clementi.

The FRCS FSC has been helping Mr Rafiezuwan with his employment difficulties and citizenship woes.

Mr Lim, a Singaporean, said he was surprised to learn about the challenges that stateless people face.

“I’ve benefited from the Singapore system, and I want to give back. I asked myself, how can we integrate someone like Ricqo into our society?

“It’s not just about giving him a job, anyone can do that; it’s more important for us to help him upskill and build his confidence,” he said.

Mr Lim said he was impressed by the fact that even though Mr Rafiezuwan did not have formal education and had spent most of his time hanging out in void decks and parks, he did not fall into bad company.

“That he did not turn to a life of crime is already half the battle won. I want to help him continue that, to assure him that we will support him if he stays on the straight and narrow,” he said.

Mr Lim had initially offered Mr Rafiezuwan a repair technician job when they met earlier in October. But the young man was worried that his skills were lacking and asked to contribute in other ways.

They agreed to start with housekeeping duties, but with training to take on more technical roles. Mr Lim also intends to enrol Mr Rafiezuwan for English lessons.

Mr Lim then approached the Ministry of Manpower for permission to hire Mr Rafiezuwan. He received the go-ahead soon after and the employment contract was drawn up.

Mr Rafiezuwan is both excited and nervous about his new role, which will involve cleaning and maintaining properties leased out by the firm.

“I don’t have the confidence, but I thought, why not try something new? Maybe it will turn out well,” he said, adding that he had a week-long stint as a warehouse worker in August.

He had also applied to work as a cleaner at three different companies but was unsuccessful.

The first company was unsure about hiring a stateless person. The second told him it “did not have the quota to hire stateless people”, and the third did not respond.

His parents

As at Dec 31, 2023, there were 853 stateless people living in Singapore. They are not recognised as a citizen of any country and have no nationality.

Mr Rafiezuwan is among the 24 per cent of stateless people here who are also not PRs. They are thus not entitled to subsidised education, healthcare and housing.

Ms Hamidah Osman, 54, and Mr Jamaludin Jantan, 66, have raised him as their son since he was a five-month-old baby in their two-room flat in Clementi.

Mr Rafiezuwan regards them as his parents and calls them “mama” and “papa”.

Mr Jamaludin works as a cleaner while Ms Hamidah is a housewife. They did not know that their son was stateless and could not enrol him in school as they did not have his identity documents at the time.

Ms Hamidah said that when Mr Rafiezuwan was a toddler, his maternal relatives wanted to put him in an orphanage.

But Ms Hamidah’s mother convinced her to keep the child.

“Ricqo was a good kid, he gave us no problems. We love him like he’s our own child,” she said.

While Mr Rafiezuwan’s birth mother was incarcerated, his caregivers tried to get his birth certificate from his relatives so he could get his childhood immunisations and be enrolled in school.

They were not successful.

Ms Hamidah said: “We tried many times to get his birth certificate. We went to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and a few mosques to ask for help.

“We were told to check with Ricqo’s relatives, but they were not helpful. We did not know what else to do at the time.”

The young man occasionally speaks to his birth mother, who lives in Singapore, but he declined to say more.

He said he found out he was stateless in 2019, after he and his friends were approached by the police on one occasion, and the officers raised suspicions over why he did not have an identity card.

He remains in Singapore on a Special Pass issued by ICA that has to be renewed every year.

Social worker Muhammad Khalifah Nazir Mohd Ali, from FRCS FSC in Clementi, started looking after Mr Rafiezuwan’s case when he approached the centre for help.

Mr Khalifah helped him navigate the procedure involved in applying to the authorities for permission to work in Singapore, and with preparing his PR application submitted earlier in October.

Mr Rafiezuwan was given authorisation to work here in July.

Then came the news report in September, which prompted more than 80 people to contact ST and the FRCS FSC over Mr Rafiezuwan’s case.

The young man said he was touched and grateful for the help, adding: “I’ve never received so much attention and support in my life. I feel there is hope.

“I am willing to try new things and work hard.”

Mr Rafiezuwan will report for his first day of work at The Assembly Place on Nov 4. His salary will be deposited into a family friend’s bank account, as he cannot open his own because of his stateless status.

Meanwhile, FRCS FSC is coordinating with the Muslim Converts’ Association of Singapore (Darul Arqam Singapore).

The association gave Mr Rafiezuwan a one-off sum of $200 to get what he needs for work and has offered him one-on-one religious classes.

Questions in Parliament

Six questions on stateless people living in Singapore were submitted in Parliament in October after ST’s story was published.

Nominated MP Razwana Begum Abdul Rahim asked for an update on the number of stateless children here and the support available to them.

Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam said in a written parliamentary reply on Oct 15 that there were seven stateless children under the age of 12 in Singapore and another 13 between the ages of 12 and 18, as at Dec 31, 2023.

They constituted 2.3 per cent of the total number of stateless individuals here.

Mr Shanmugam said that while their circumstances vary, one reason for their statelessness is that they were born in Singapore to foreign parents who did not obtain the citizenship of their country for their children.

The minister noted that Singapore, like many countries, does not automatically grant citizenship to children born here.

On how citizenship applications are evaluated, he said the criteria include the conduct and contributions of the applicants, their links to Singapore such as if they have family members who are Singaporeans, and how long they have been in the country.

“The circumstances under which the person became stateless would also be taken into consideration,” Mr Shanmugam said.

He added that it is the responsibility of the parents or legal guardians to take care of the child’s well-being, including obtaining citizenship for the child.

“However, if a child or young person has no parent or caregiver willing or able to provide care or guardianship in Singapore, they may be provided with statutory protection under the Children and Young Persons Act,” he said.

Mr Shanmugam said that from 2019 to 2023, an average of 17 applications for permanent residency and 60 applications for citizenship from stateless individuals were processed each year.

Of these, about 35 per cent of PR applications and 60 per cent of citizenship applications were approved.

Mr Rafiezuwan is keeping his fingers crossed about his PR application, which ICA informed him would take about six months to process. But he has a job to look forward to.

His parents said they are proud of him, adding that they were moved when he revealed in the earlier report that he wanted a job so he could look after them in their old age.

Ms Hamidah said: “Even though we are close, I didn’t know the extent to which Ricqo was struggling, as he never told me. I was touched to read that he wanted to work to help the family.”

She hopes he will become a Singapore citizen one day, get married and start his own family.

But first, Mr Rafiezuwan has to learn to navigate beyond Clementi. “I don’t really leave Clementi and when I do, I’m usually with my friends who lead the way,” he said sheepishly.

Days after Mr Rafiezuwan secured the job, his social worker, Mr Khalifah, spent about 40 minutes over a few sit-down sessions explaining to Mr Rafiezuwan how he can travel to his workplace from the Bukit Merah rental flat his family will soon be moving into.

Mr Rafiezuwan will work in two locations – in Middle Road in the Rochor district, and in Geylang.

“I am so thankful for all the people who encouraged me. I will keep trying. I won’t give up,” he said.

He added that he does not blame anyone for his predicament, not even his biological mother.

With regard to his parents, he said it was not their fault that he ended up without formal education. They just did not know whom to turn to for help.

Mr Rafiezuwan said he is glad that he can finally step out of the shadows, leave Clementi for work and maybe, one day, travel out of Singapore with his friends.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.