A local daily's attempt to find 'Mismah', a former permanent resident whose Malaysian citizenship was recently approved, has hit a dead end with its efforts to track her down running into snags.
The daily was following up on a Malaysiakini expose about a permanent resident who was curiously registered as a voter and miraculously became a citizen in four hours.
Reporters from Malay language daily Sinar Harian scoured Desa Coalfield in Ijok last weekend in an attempt to find Mismah, but to no avail.
This is chiefly due to the Mismah's address being incomplete, causing them to fail in locating her house from among the hundreds of houses in the area.
Her address in the online Election Comission (EC) voter database was only listed as Desa Coalfield.
"There was no street name or house number given, making it difficult as Desa Coalfield comprises five phases of double-storey terrace houses spread out over a large area," the daily says in a report on the matter today.
The daily's sources inside the National Registration Department (NRD) had revealed Mismah's house number as 12A.
While that helped to narrow down the search, it still left a lot of houses to be checked out for Mismah as in Desa Coalfield 1 alone, there 10 streets, each with a house numbered 12A.
'Locals not cooperating'
"The difficulty in getting the cooperation of local residents and the inability to identify who Mismah is further complicated the search," says the daily's article.
The legal alien attained brief notoriety last week after Malaysiakini exposed the irregularity of her registration as a voter in Selangor despite being listed as a permanent resident in a National Registration Department (NRD) web page.
Malaysiakini was initially informed about Mismah's case by a reader who noted that she was listed in the supplementary electoral roll, which is now on display for public scrutiny.
A check with the online verification systems of both the NRD and EC on Aug 2 confirmed Mismah's registration as a voter.
The NRD online verification system, which allows users to check the status of an individual by entering the PR card number, shows that Mismah (No. 640704715238) is a permanent resident.
However, when the same number was entered into the EC online verification system, Mismah was listed as a newly-registered voter.
She was registered as a voter in the Ijok state constituency and Kuala Selangor parliamentary constituency, which are respectively held by Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim of the PKR and Dzulkelfy Ahmad of PAS.
'Citizenship in four hours?'
Ading a further twist to the turn of events, another check with the NRD system at 3pm the same day (Aug 2) returned a shocking result - the same Mismah had become a Malaysian citizen with a blue MyKad.
In other words, in what can only be called a dazzling display of public service efficiency, she appeared to have received her citizenship, in the course of four hours.
As a rule, permanent residents are not allowed to vote in Malaysia, as voting is the exclusive right of citizens. It takes many years for a permanent resident to be able to even be considered for citizenship.
The opposition parties are alleging that the BN, in collusion with the NRD and the EC, is stealthily inserting voters into Pakatan Rakyat-held consistencies in its bid to retake the areas.
This was with the participation of permanent residents who were put on the fast track to citizenship in return for their pledge to vote for the BN, opposition leaders are claiming.
However, the NRD explained that Mismah was a long time permanent resident of 29 years whose citizenship was approved on Jan 31.
The EC then moved, changing her status as a voter in its online system from "name on display" to "application being processed".
Both government departments have remained silent when asked why her records were miraculously updated in the four hours afterMalaysiakini ran the story, and not in the six months or so since she was awarded her citizenship. - Malaysiakini
The daily was following up on a Malaysiakini expose about a permanent resident who was curiously registered as a voter and miraculously became a citizen in four hours.
Reporters from Malay language daily Sinar Harian scoured Desa Coalfield in Ijok last weekend in an attempt to find Mismah, but to no avail.
This is chiefly due to the Mismah's address being incomplete, causing them to fail in locating her house from among the hundreds of houses in the area.
Her address in the online Election Comission (EC) voter database was only listed as Desa Coalfield.
"There was no street name or house number given, making it difficult as Desa Coalfield comprises five phases of double-storey terrace houses spread out over a large area," the daily says in a report on the matter today.
The daily's sources inside the National Registration Department (NRD) had revealed Mismah's house number as 12A.
While that helped to narrow down the search, it still left a lot of houses to be checked out for Mismah as in Desa Coalfield 1 alone, there 10 streets, each with a house numbered 12A.
'Locals not cooperating'
"The difficulty in getting the cooperation of local residents and the inability to identify who Mismah is further complicated the search," says the daily's article.
The legal alien attained brief notoriety last week after Malaysiakini exposed the irregularity of her registration as a voter in Selangor despite being listed as a permanent resident in a National Registration Department (NRD) web page.
Malaysiakini was initially informed about Mismah's case by a reader who noted that she was listed in the supplementary electoral roll, which is now on display for public scrutiny.
A check with the online verification systems of both the NRD and EC on Aug 2 confirmed Mismah's registration as a voter.
The NRD online verification system, which allows users to check the status of an individual by entering the PR card number, shows that Mismah (No. 640704715238) is a permanent resident.
However, when the same number was entered into the EC online verification system, Mismah was listed as a newly-registered voter.
She was registered as a voter in the Ijok state constituency and Kuala Selangor parliamentary constituency, which are respectively held by Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim of the PKR and Dzulkelfy Ahmad of PAS.
'Citizenship in four hours?'
Ading a further twist to the turn of events, another check with the NRD system at 3pm the same day (Aug 2) returned a shocking result - the same Mismah had become a Malaysian citizen with a blue MyKad.
In other words, in what can only be called a dazzling display of public service efficiency, she appeared to have received her citizenship, in the course of four hours.
As a rule, permanent residents are not allowed to vote in Malaysia, as voting is the exclusive right of citizens. It takes many years for a permanent resident to be able to even be considered for citizenship.
The opposition parties are alleging that the BN, in collusion with the NRD and the EC, is stealthily inserting voters into Pakatan Rakyat-held consistencies in its bid to retake the areas.
This was with the participation of permanent residents who were put on the fast track to citizenship in return for their pledge to vote for the BN, opposition leaders are claiming.
However, the NRD explained that Mismah was a long time permanent resident of 29 years whose citizenship was approved on Jan 31.
The EC then moved, changing her status as a voter in its online system from "name on display" to "application being processed".
Both government departments have remained silent when asked why her records were miraculously updated in the four hours afterMalaysiakini ran the story, and not in the six months or so since she was awarded her citizenship. - Malaysiakini
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