BN MP submits evidence of Sabah IC scam to Home Ministry

By Michael Kaung

KOTA KINABALU: The federal government has been given sufficient evidence to prove that foreigners in Sabah have gained Malaysian identification documents through dubious means, a Barisan Nasional MP said today.

Tuaran MP Wilfred Bumburing said he had submitted the evidence in a memorandum to Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein recently.

One of the many cases he cited in the memorandum, was that of a Filipino who had a genuine Malaysian IC but who travelled to Mecca to perform the Haj using his Filipino passport.

Included also is a testimony of one of the National Registration Department (NRD) officers, who was once detained under the ISA, and who is prepared to provide evidence that the Sabah NRD was involved in the issuance of thousands of 'Project ICs' to illegal immigrants between 1991 and 1994.

Bumburing said that he had painstakingly gathered the evidence after being told in Parliament by the Home Minister on June 10 that no Malaysian ICs were issued to illegal immigrants in Sabah.

The minister, he said, confirmed the statement by the Director of Sabah NRD that no such ICs have been given to illegals in the state.

He said he had used Hishammuddin's reply that he welcomed evidence to the contrary to be submitted to him so that the government could take action to redress the situation as a challenge.

Starting in June this year, he said, he had collated all the evidence needed to prove that indeed ICs had been issued to foreigners.

“I have finalised and compiled the evidences to prove my statement and have submitted it to the deputy home minister because the minister himself was not present during the Dewan sitting,” he said.

100-page memorandum

The memorandum to revoke the ICs owned by illegal immigrants in Sabah, he said, is more than 100 pages and contains all the evidences that the ministry needs.

“I hope that the ministry will now act accordingly to solve this 30-year-old problem,” he said.

The federal government has no option but to revoke all ICs and MyKads dubiously issued to foreigners, said Bumburing, who is also deputy president of Upko.

He said the issuance of these documents to unqualified immigrants was tantamount to granting them citizenship and with all the benefits that entails at the expense of Malaysian taxpayers.

This, he said, contravened the federal constitution and violated the spirit of the formation of Malaysia of which Sabah and Sarawak were signatories.

Bumburing said he believed the issuance exercise was purely for political purposes.

“In actual sense, these foreigners with genuine MyKads and registered as voters in Sabah are in fact the actual 'fixed deposit' as far as the people of Sabah are concerned,” he said.

He was alluding to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's often enough boast that Sabah is the ruling coalition's power base.

He said that he and other MPs from Sabah have made several attempts to raise the issue in Parliament but have been stymied by the short period allocated to them to get a full reply.

This stalemate in Parliament has caused the issue to drag on for a long time without any indication whether it would be noted, he said.

The memorandum Bumburing submitted calls for action from the government to immediately suspend all activities relating to the issuance of Malaysian ICs to foreigners as well as to immediately issue a statement to cancel all Malaysian ICs.

Unfettered control

This also applies to holders of MyKads that contravene Section 3, Clause 1, Chapter 14, 15, 16, 18, 19 and 22 of the Federal Constitution and the registration regulations of the National Registration Department.

The regulation clearly spells out the requirement for citizenship to be granted to any individual.

Any deviation or contravention from this clause and chapter is against Article 4 of the Federal Constitution and also contravenes the 20 Points Agreement, he said.

Point 6 of the 20 Points Agreement which touches on Immigration says: “Control over immigration into any part of Malaysia from outside should rest with the central government but entry into North Borneo should also require the approval of the state government.

“The federal government should not veto the entry of persons into North Borneo for state government purposes except on strictly security grounds.

“North Borneo should have unfettered control over the movements of persons other than those in federal government employ from other parts of Malaysia into North Borneo”.

Bumburing said the issue of 'dubious citizenships' is now openly discussed in coffee shops and debated widely in the Sabah state assembly meeting and in Parliament.

“It has also reached the office of the Prime Minister and the national palace,” he said adding that Sabahans regardless of political affiliations and religious beliefs have been protesting to the government and the King for years that their rights were being trampled.

“This shows that the people are fed up with the empty promises made by the authorities in trying to solve the three decades old menace,” he said.

Illegals a threat

Bumburing said the greatest challenge will come from children of these illegal immigrants (PTI) who are undocumented.

He said that if half a million illegal immigrant couples were to have five children each over a period of six years, in 15 years there would be almost three million adult population comprising children of illegal immigrants.

“And what is to prevent them from petitioning for a United Nation-sponsored referendum to claim Sabah as their own?… their loyalty to the nation is in doubt so, the time to act is now.

“The home ministry and the Malaysian cabinet must consider and approve this memorandum in order to preserve the peace, security and sovereignty of Sabah,” he said.

Bumburing sees the memorandum as a 'trust' given to him by the people of Sabah "to resolve in the wisest and most committed way" the problematic issue.

He warned that it was an issue that had to be resolved before the next general election.