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and the impartial witness signed the consent form. If the person was
unable to sign, a signature by mark ‘X’ was sufficient.
Informed consent forms that had been approved by the UM Ethics
Review Committee were translated into multiple languages. If
required, we utilised interpreters in the interview after checking with
the participant which language they were most comfortable with.
For persons with intellectual or mental disabilities, we ensured
arrangements to accommodate them such as providing sign
language interpreters or engaging their care providers to support
them in attending the interview.
Voluntariness of participation in this study
Participants were reminded before consent was signed, and at the
beginning of the interview, that they were not obliged to participate, and
that they could stop the interview at any point. We reminded participants
that they did not have to share any documents if they were too personal
or if it made them uncomfortable, and that they did not have to give us
any reason for refusing to share documents related to the circumstances
of their statelessness.
Reflection on the benefits of the study for its participants
There was no direct benefit to the participants of the study, aside from
helping progress policy-making surrounding statelessness in Peninsular
Malaysia. We did inform participants that this final developed report, if fully
utilised, would aid policymakers in addressing problems of statelessness,
which in turn would benefit all the participants in the future. Participants
were offered RM20 as compensation for their time and were reimbursed
for documentation expenses (e.g. postage, photocopying costs), travel
expenses, phone top-up, Covid-19 self-test kits, masks, and sanitisers.
Ensuring confidentiality of sensitive information related to participants
The anonymity and confidentiality of the participants were strictly protected
– all participants would not be identified by name, nor would there be any
identifying information that could potentially reveal the participants’ true
identities to external parties in any publication. The participants’ identities
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