An electoral reforms group wants a probe on the National Registration Department database first 'because the EC relies on NRD for verification of its electoral list'.
PETALING JAYA: Tindak Malaysia, an NGO advocating electoral reforms, has called for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on the National Registration Department’s (NRD) registry.
As the Election Commission (EC) relies on NRD’s data for verification, Tindak Malaysia’s representative PY Wong said it was pertinent that the scrutiny starts with the NRD database itself.
“If there are problems with the NRD’s database, then it’s safe to assume that EC’s data is flawed as well,” said Wong.
Earlier today, STAR Sabah chief Jefrrey Kitingan alleged that the NRD’s mobile unit was giving away MyKads to foreigners in Semporna, Sabah. The MP for the constituency is Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal.
Legalised illegal immigrants are a big problem in Sabah but an issue that the Barisan Nasional government is hesitant to resolve as this group is now reportedly BN’s “fixed deposit”.
In Kuala Lumpur yesterday, PKR vice-president Fuziah Salleh said there was an influx of 18,568 new voters at the Pekan parliamentary constituency, where Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is the incumbent.
“In Kuantan, which is an urban area, there is an addition of about 5,000. But in Pekan, a rural seat, there is an addition of 18,568 voter,” Fuziah reportedly said.
However, EC deputy commissioner Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said the influx could be attributed to the surge of economic activities in the area and people changing their voting address there.
Speaking to FMT, Wong said that it was time that an RCI was established to also study whether there is a possibleconflict of interest when the EC appoints civil servants as its staff.
“Look at one of EC’s chief official, Christopher Wan. He used to head the Special Branch in Kuala Lumpur. What is a former Special Branch officer doing at the EC?
“In my view, not even staff of government-linked companies should be appointed as its registrar of electors. Get the manpower from the civil society movements committed to reforms,” he said.
Time for international observers
Commenting on the sudden surge of over 18,000 voters in Pekan, Wong scoffed at Wan Ahmad’s explanation on the matter, saying it was an attempt to defend the status quo.
“The new voters probably came from the Bermuda Triangle,” Wong said in a jest.
Meanwhile, Bersih 2.0 steering committee member Wong Chin Huat said the Pekan issue is a good enough reason why international observers should be allowed in Malaysia.
He said the Pekan constituency had always posed a problem as it had a high number of postal voters and foreign workers.
“Our data shows that Pekan is one of the top places that attracts foreign workers. We can understand if they flock to urban areas but why would they want to go to a rural area like Pekan?” said Chin Huat.
When told of Wan Ahmad’s justification, Chin Huat said the EC had a track record of spewing nonsense.
“If you want to convince the public, show us a breakdown of the 18,000 news voters. Give us a list of newly registered voters and those who changed their address to Pekan.
“Also, we urge the government not to hold the election without having electoral reforms first. Any election prior to that would result in us having an illegitimate government,” said Chin Huat.
EC’s reason justified
However, Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) secretary-general Shaharuddin Othman said Wan Ahmad’s reasoning was justified.
“Pekan has an air force base. Probably, more officers got stationed there recently and that has caused the surge.
“And it’s true the area is becoming an industrial hub. Proton is setting up a plant there and I believe there are talks to build a Volkswagen plant there as well,” Shaharuddin said.
On why the need to station more army personnel in Pekan, he said the area was strategic as it was the closest to the Spratlys Island, a cluster of island being sought by many Southeast Asian countries and China.
“In the event of a conflict in the Spratlys, the air base in Pekan is the closest to the islands,” he said.
He also said the Pekan electoral list could be obtained from the EC, for free, anytime.
He also said the Pekan electoral list could be obtained from the EC, for free, anytime.
“And the EC does publish new voters’ list for a week before gazetting in order to allow objection from the public,” Shaharuddin said.
However, he agreed that foreign observers and the local ones should be allowed to monitor the elections.
“If we want international credibility, then we must allow international observers,” he said.
PBS urged the Federal Government to speed up the formation of the RCI on illegal immigrants in Sabah.
ReplyDeleteMositun said PBS' call for urgency was in light of the Semporna Bumiputera Bajau Association's allegation that foreigners were also lining up to get documents during the NRD mobile registration exercise, hence its President, Mansor Santiri, calling for the exercise to be halted. It must be treated with urgency and not wait until the matter gets worse and beyond control
ReplyDeletejika di Sabah RCI untuk PATI diperlukan.
ReplyDeleteState govt already demand the RCI for Sabah. But federal govt still under consideration for this thing.
ReplyDeleteRCI will become a gold bullet in the next GE for those who desperately want to take over the government..
ReplyDeleteThere is a need to set in place additional precautionary measures to prevent immigrants from taking advantage of the ongoing National Registration Department’s (NRD) mobile registration drives to acquire Malaysian citizenship.
ReplyDeleteParti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) vice president Datuk Radin Malleh who suggested this, said although certain mechanisms were already in place, the NRD still needs to be extra careful to ensure that illegal immigrants are not mistakenly registered as locals and given Malaysian birth certificates and identity cards (ICs). “We ask the relevant authorities to be extra careful in registering the birth certificates and identity documents, so that they do not fall into the wrong hands especially illegal immigrants, as this could jeapordise the country’s sovereignty and future,” he said.
ReplyDeleteRadin who is also Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department said the mobile registration was one of the government’s way to help the people, but to a certain extent, there might be a hint of truth to the association’s claims.
ReplyDeleteHe added that there were rules in place under the Federal Constitution for foreigners to get their citizenship and NRD must ensure that everyone abides by this.“If there is any truth that these immigrants are able to get the Malaysian identity cards and claim their citizenship that way, to me personally, it is not the right way. “We hope with the high-tech mechanisms that they mentioned, NRD will be able to properly screen them.”
ReplyDeleteHe noted that amongst the requirements of the Federal Constitution, one must reside in this country for a certain period of time, be fluent in the Malay language and the cultures of the country and take an oath before they can be granted citizenship, not simply impersonating as a local.
ReplyDeleteAlthough llegal immigrants may try, mechanisms are in place to ensure they do not get registered for birth certificates or ICs at mobile registration drives carried out by the National Registration Department (NRD) in rural areas.
ReplyDeleteIt is impossible for them to get Malaysian birth certificates and citizenship, said NRD Director, Ismail Ahmad. "We are actually trying to help Malaysians, especially those in the interior whose children are without or with late-registration birth certificate and ICs," he said "It might be true that a lot of them (illegals) come and wait with all the rest of the eligible people. But he might not know that their journey is only up to there, standing and waiting because they won't be entertained.
ReplyDelete"For legal foreigners, we will issue a red birth certificate to the children whose parent, either the mother or father is a Malaysian.
For locals who have no documents due to factors such as lack of awareness and living too far from the city, we will issue a green birth certificate (original Malaysian birth certificate). "We issue these documents to legal foreigners so that they can go to their embassy or consulate to get their passports done, whereas for our locals, we have to help them get their identification documents done so that they can go to school and so on," Ismail said.
He said the outreach programme currently being held in Semporna to register locals without valid identification documents, is meant to help the locals.
ReplyDeleteHe said that since the programme started on Feb. 20, he said a total of 3,067 Malaysians were found to be without birth certificates.A total of 193 children had court endorsement to get ICs while 731 of them are still without the court's endorsement.
ReplyDeleteHe pointed out that before a programme is held, the NRD would first have a meeting with the District Officer and all community leaders of an area, then give them the family information form to be distributed to those applying for documentation.
ReplyDelete"After that, all the forms will be sent to the NRD to be screened to verify whether those in the list are genuinely Malaysian, before putting the list out and calling the people involved to come and register after a couple of days," Ismail said. It is only after screening that the department would set a date to conduct the mobile registration programme to the said village, he said.
He said representatives from the Immigration Department, special branch, court, Election Commission, and Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission among others will also be present then. "This shows just how strict we are in issuing documents to the people. If there really are suspicious cases and people trying to crawl their way into getting a citizenship, Ismail said they would straightaway refer the cases to the police (special branch) before proceeding further. "For example, there were one or two cases in Sandakan recently, where the village head was trying to support the application of illegals to be registered to obtain Malaysian documents. They were caught and convicted," he revealed.
ReplyDeleteFurther on, he said among those, who the NRD strictly do not entertain, are the palaau or sea gypsies. "These people live without documents, and we cannot do anything about it.,Apart from that, those found to be illegal immigrants trying to get citizenship or identification documents also will not be entertained," he said. "Only genuine locals or those born here, with one of their parents being a Malaysian will be entertained, but we still differentiate them using red (query certificate)," Ismail stressed.
Meanwhile, he explained that some of the reasons behind some people not having any valid documents are due to logistics. "Some of them have to spend an amount of money and time and they just don't feel like doing it. Some may think it's not important while some may feel that it would be troublesome because their father has more than one wife, and things just become more complicated. "Some do not want to go through all the hassle of having to go to relevant agencies and departments because they might have got married kampung style, and so on," he pointed out.
ReplyDelete