Digital Registration and the Invisible Child: Protecting Children of Unregistered Migrant Marriages in Malaysia

Niswatun  Zakiyah; Bahrul Ulum; Hawa Rahmat; Abdul Rahim bin  Ahmad

doi:10.66277/jldc.v1i2.31

Authors

Niswatun Zakiyah Universitas Islam Negeri Profesor Kiai Haji Saifuddin Zuhri Purwokerto, Indonesia
Bahrul Ulum Universitas Islam Negeri Profesor Kiai Haji Saifuddin Zuhri Purwokerto, Indonesia
Hawa Rahmat Learning Institute for Empowerment, Multimedia University, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7874-6046
Abdul Rahim bin Ahmad Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.66277/jldc.v1i2.31

Keywords:

Digital civil registration; data protection; child rights; unregistered marriage; Indonesian migrant workers.

Abstract

The digitalisation of civil registration promises legal identity for all, yet children who never enter the database remain invisible to the state. This article examines that paradox through children born of unregistered (siri) marriages among undocumented Indonesian migrant workers in Kampung Bharu, Kuala Lumpur. It asks how such marriages are practised, how Indonesian and Malaysian law treat the children, and how accessible digital and consular protection of their rights to identity, nationality, education, and health actually is. Using empirical juridical research with statutory, conceptual, and case approaches, the study draws on interviews and observation at a community learning centre and an interview with a consular officer of the Indonesian Embassy, analysed qualitatively against Islamic law, Indonesian and Malaysian legislation, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Two children at the centre were reported to have been born of religiously solemnised but unregistered marriages between undocumented Indonesian parents. They remain Indonesian nationals by descent and are undocumented rather than stateless. Indonesia offers free consular birth registration and an online civil registration system for citizens abroad, but these channels are underused because registration requires data that families lack, because parents fear their data will reach immigration enforcement, and because of a digital divide in legal information. The article argues that digital registration protects children only when paired with a data firewall between civil registration and immigration enforcement, outreach that reaches offline communities, and evidentiary flexibility for children of unregistered marriages.

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