NRD to rectify religious status error in Sabah

Bumiputera Christians in Sabah and Sarawak get a reprieve over religious status in their MyKad.

KOTA KINABALU: Christians in Sabah and Sarawak who’ve had their religious status inadvertently registered as Islam in their MyKads can now amend it without hassle at the National Registration Department (NRD).

The decision comes after a long battle with the authorities to acknowledge that the term “bin” and “binti” in Sabah and Sarawak did not necessarily mean that the owners are Muslims.

Non-Muslim bumiputeras whose names bear the word “binti” and “bin” have had their religious status tagged as ‘Islam’ in their MyKads by the NRD.

The NRD had maintianed that it would continue to list bumiputera Christians in Sabah as Muslims as long as they are known by a ‘bin’ or ‘binti’.

The department has also refused to entertain any requests to amend this status saying that it would only act upon receiving an order from the Syariah High Court clearing the applicants status as to whether these bumiputeras were indeed Christians and not Muslims.

But the process of securing this clearance from the Syariah Court was not an easy task as in most cases even if the applicants managed to get a hearing date, they were still dependent on the presence of officials from both the NRD and Islamic authorities. In majority of the cases neither party turns up.

Activists and the opposition have accused the authorities of using this as a ruse to systematically Islamise the predominantly Christian Sarawak and to a lesser number Sabah bumiputera communities.

And this has been one of the major bones of contention in these Borneo states where post 2008 has seen a wide range of ‘revelations’ homing in on the ruling Barisan Nasional and its coalition allies.

But the situation now looks upbeat.

PM nod to NRD

At a recent Upko convention here, United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) president Bernard Dompok declared that matter has been resolved at the federal Cabinet level.

He said the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak having given the go-ahead to NRD.

“Previously Sabahans with such a problem needed to go to the Syariah Court to rectify it.

“However, after a discussion in the Federal Cabinet, the Prime Minister has agreed that the changes could be done just at the NRD,” he told Upko members here recently.

He said the cabinet had also decided to appoint him as the ‘focal point’ in Sabah while Douglas Unggah was directed to monitor Sarawak.

“I will be responsible to ensure assistance to resolve the problem faced by the people in Sabah.

“I will also look into those who were born in Brunei before the formation of Malaysia and who have been having difficulty in applying for citizenship.

“They and any others having similar problem should contact me or my office,” he said adding that he was thankful that Najib had found a solution to the problem.