Ex-NRD chief: Immigrants made voters, not citizens

Former Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) chief Ramli Kamarudin admitted that his agency was involved in making it possible for Indonesians and Filipinos to vote in the 1994 Sabah state election, but denied that they were made citizens.

This, he explained, was because the immigrants were not issued identity card receipts in their name, but instead were issued receipts using the names and identity card numbers from people already in the electoral roll who never voted before, or are dead.

The receipts are temporary identity card slips, issued prior to the granting of a proper identity card. This document is sufficient to allow for voting.

"But because the receipts are not in their name, they cannot go to the NRD and later convert them to a blue identity card.

"Furthermore, the slips also have an expiry date of three months," he told the royal commission on inquiry (RCI) of the immigrants in Sabah.

He added that after the state election, measures were also taken to gather all the receipts and destroy them.

"During election day, we gathered them in one place and then used buses to send them to vote.

'We bussed and paid them'

"We paid each of them about RM10 to RM20, because they could not go to work and so we had to compensate them," he said.

On average, he said his team planted an average of 200 immigrants with receipts at selected state seats deemed as "black areas” for BN.

Ramli, like several NRD officers involved, was eventually detained under the Internal Security Act.

Earlier, he had explained that he began the receipt operation after personally receiving instructions from the then deputy Home Minister Megat Junid Megat Ayub at a hotel in Kota Kinabalu, two weeks before the 1994 Sabah state election.

Ramli, who was previously with the National Security Council under the Prime Minister's Department, said he was asked to helm the Sabah National Registration Department in 1993.

"Before I was sent there, I was briefed to help support the creation of a government that would be in favour to the Islam religion in Sabah.

"When they mentioned this, I was attracted and I agreed to help bring a government that was supportive of the Islam religion to power," he said, adding that this meant ousting Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).