50,000 poor Sabahans don’t have MyKads

Distance and affordability are the key reasons why large pockets of rural Sabah are still without their MyKads.

KOTA KINABALU: Some 50,000 Sabahans, mostly residing in the interior of the state, have not applied for their MyKad from the National Registration Department (NRD).

Outgoing NRD state director Jaffear Henry said the reason was that most of their villages were remote and transport costly.

“It will take them days to get to the nearest NRD office. Then there is the cost of transport which many can ill-afford,” he said yesterday.

He added that most of these Sabahans who did not have the MyKads were above 16 years and had had their births registered late with the department.

Jaffear said the department would continue with its mobile registration service, especially in the interior areas to assist rural Sabahans to obtain their MyKads.

“Our target is to visit two areas a month but if we can do three, we will. This is not impossible because in the last two years, we visited 60 areas,” he said, adding that this weekend the mobile service will be in Kemabong and Tenom.

The state NRD has also improved its services in Tongod, Sandakan, which is now online via VSAT, which allows birth certificates to be processed and issued on the spot at its office there.

In the past, all the application forms had to be sent to Telupid and the process usually took about a week.

“Now the birth certificates can be printed on the spot… in 20 minutes according to our client charter for registration of new-born,” he said.

Fake MyKads

Jaffear also said that many Sabahans who did not have a birth certificate were unable to make the long journey to towns due to transport cost, while others were ignorant of the law.

“According to Section 9 of the Birth, Death and Adoption Ordinance, all births in Sabah must be registered with the NRD.

“However, when a birth is registered, it does not mean that the child is automatically Malaysian.

“Only a child whose parent is Malaysian will receive citizenship and children born to foreigners will be given the parent’s citizenship,” he said.

Jaffear also reminded single mothers or unwed couples to register the births of their children as it is mandatory.

He said elected representatives and village heads have also been told to submit the forms prepared by NRD for late registration of births to the nearest office so that the application can be expedited.

Jaffear also said that the Sabah NRD now has its own enforcement unit and has so far, arrested and charged four foreigners, mostly women, with possessing fake MyKads.

They are now serving jail terms of between three months and one year. - FMT