By Boo Su-Lyn
KOTA KINABALU, Jan 17 – A former National Registration Department (NRD) official defended today his action in issuing blue identity cards to undocumented immigrants, pointing out that rural villagers lacked documents too.
Former Sabah NRD director Datuk Abdul Rauf Sani told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants here today that most people living in the interiors of Sabah like Kampung Buaian, Terian and Ulu Pensiangan did not have birth certificates.
“Their status are like immigrants,” said Rauf at the RCI here today.
“What’s the difference between them and illegal immigrants? All of them don’t have documents,” he added.
Rauf, who is currently the CEO of the Finance Ministry’s Lembaga Totalisator Malaysia that improves horse racing, stressed that his then-NRD officials had signed thousands of blue identity cards in 1990 for “qualified” people, not just immigrants.
“Issuing documents for people without supporting documents is illegal,” said conducting officer Datuk Azmi Ariffin at the RCI here today.
“That’s correct. But this includes villagers... then they should be called foreigners then,” replied Rauf.
Rauf, however, admitted that blue identity cards were also issued to increase the number of Muslim voters in Sabah.
He said he was aware that immigrants in Sabah were taught how to vote in elections, otherwise their identity cards would be cancelled.
Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) won just 25 out of 48 state assembly seats in the 1994 state election.
But several PBS MPs defected to Barisan Nasional (BN) shortly after, causing the collapse of the PBS government.
Rauf, who was Sabah NRD director from 1990 to 1992, added that he was detained for two months under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 1996 for allegedly selling identity cards to immigrants.
Former Sabah NRD assistant registrar Kee Dzulkifly Kee Abd Jalil testified yesterday that 100,000 blue identity cards were given to Filipino, Indonesian and Pakistani immigrants in Sabah in 1993.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister who was in power from 1981 to 2003, has been accused of spearheading the so-called “Project IC”, in which citizenships were allegedly given to immigrants for their votes.
But former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh, who administered the state from 1976 to 1985, denied on Tuesday the existence of “Project IC”.
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) country director for Malaysia Paul Allan Vernon praised the Malaysian government today for giving citizenship to refugees.
“Legal status is important. People (living) in the country for a long time should move to (becoming) citizens,” said Vernon at the RCI later today.
He added that giving citizenship to refugees was good practice.
Vernon, who is an American, said there were currently about 60,000 refugees in Sabah, who were mainly Filipino Muslims.
He pointed out that Filipino Muslims who have been living in Sabah for three decades had weak links to Mindanao.
“(They are) good for local integration,” he said, adding that concerted efforts were necessary to resolve the issue of street children.
“We see time and again there’s a very serious risk with children. If the child hasn’t been properly educated, that child will have difficulty acquiring literacy,” he said.
The inquiry before former chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong resumes tomorrow.