Jeffrey Kitingan takes Hishammuddin to task on MyKad claim

Sabah opposition strongman Jeffrey Kitingan has challenged Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to put his money where his mouth is on the issuance of MyKads in the state.

“Bring the issue before a royal commission of inquiry,” said Jeffrey, who is chairperson of the Common Interest Group Malaysia (Cigma) - an ad-hoc apolitical NGO dedicated to defending the interests of Sabah and Sarawak.

Jeffrey's challenge follows the home minister's claim in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday that “it has been verified that the National Registration Department (NRD) has never issued a Malaysian identification document to illegal immigrants or any individuals who are not citizens”.

Jeffrey (right) accused Hishammuddin of telling a “blatant lie” in Parliament when he made the claim in a written reply to Tuaran MP Wilfred Bumburing.

“We consider the so-called verification exercise a figment of Hishammuddin's imagination,” fumed Jeffrey, who wears several hats including PKR vice-president.

“If he (Hishammuddin) is so sure of himself, why's he challenging Wilfred to produce the necessary evidence to prove him wrong?” asked Jeffrey. “Wilfred won't be the first person in Sabah to prove the home minister wrong.”

Many people in Sabah, as well as the courts, have already proven the Home Ministry and the NRD wrong on the MyKad issue time and again, continued Jeffrey, but so far there has only been ominous silence from the ministry and the department “except for occasional blanket denials in public relations releases”.

Jeffrey suggested Wilfred to invite Hishammuddin to come to Sabah and record for himself the realities on the ground.

Wilfred has confirmed that he is now gathering the proof and information as requested by the home minister for further action.

He said he was willing to “give the benefit of the doubt to the home minister for one last time on the MyKad issue”.

Putrajaya bureaucrats ignorant

The issue appears to be emerging as a key issue for the United PasokMomogun KadazanDusunMurut Organisation (Upko) of which Wilfred is deputy president.

“The evidence is there all around us in the faces of the very people we have to put up with everyday in their thousands,” charged Jeffrey in begging to disagree with Wilfred's “exercise in futility”.

“Even visitors from elsewhere in Malaysia and tourists can testify that Sabah is over-run with illegal immigrants holding MyKads.”

The local people, stressed Jeffrey, know better than the bureaucrats in Putrajaya exactly who are from among them, and those who are definitely illegal immigrants, foreigners, Peninsular Malaysians and Sarawakians”.

The people of Sabah don't need to be told by people in Putrajaya - who can't differentiate, for example, between a Dusun from Ranau, or a Pakistan national holding an illegal Malaysian birth certificate - just who are Sabahans, he added in a veiled reference to a recent Kuala Lumpur court case.

The Immigration Department reportedly held back crucial evidence at the very last minute, after former Sabah chief minister Harris Salleh - an Indian-Barunai - testified in favour of the illegal immigrant from Pakistan, and the case was thrown out.

Malaysian citizens in Sabah, cautioned Jeffrey, is a catch-all phrase casually dropped in Hishammuddin's written reply in the Dewan Rakyat, and evokes nightmare images of “citizenship by the backdoor”.

Jeffrey wants Hishammuddin (left) to categorically state at the same time that no illegal immigrant or foreigner in Sabah has ever been given permanent residence or citizenship without the approval of the Sabah state government in writing.

On paper, the question of an illegal immigrant in Sabah getting the approval of the Sabah state government in writing to get permanent residence in Sabah or Malaysian citizenship does not arise.

Deport them to Peninsular M'sia

If the Home Ministry has run foul of the laws in Sabah and Malaysia in this aspect, Jeffrey wants “recipients of Malaysian citizenship through the backdoor” to be considered Peninsular Malaysians and therefore subject to the full powers of the state's immigration laws and regulations.

“They cannot, by any stretch of the imagination (or immigration) be considered Sabahans,” warned Jeffrey. “They remain non-Sabahans forever. This issue cannot be covered up any longer.”

Also, if such people don't remove their names from the electoral rolls in the state, Jeffrey wants them to be immediately deported to Peninsular Malaysia “as they cannot be allowed to exercise their voting rights in Sabah”.

In a final take, Jeffrey disclosed that he will be writing to the home minister for full details on “the so-called verification exercise conducted on the NRD”. He hopes that the home minister will give a speedy answer which can be brought before the royal commission of inquiry, an issue which he intends to keep pursuing in all forums including abroad at the United Nations.

The Sabah NRD, when contacted yesterday, could not shed any light on the verification exercise referred to by Hishammuddin in Parliament. It was news to them, said an NRD spokesman, before begging off from giving any further comments.

The NRD in Putrajaya, including its Public Relations Office, could not be contacted.

courtesy of Malaysiakini