Recalling ICs is easy, need revamp to stop future sale, says PBS leader

Henrynus says that recalling ICs in Sabah and reissuing them to qualified citizens is just an administrative procedure. — Picture by Boo Su-LynKOTA KINABALU, April 14 — Recalling and issuing identity cards (ICs) in Sabah is just an “administrative procedure” but departments related to the procedure must be revamped to prevent further sales of the document, says a PBS leader. 

Party secretary-general Datuk Henrynus Amin commented on the matter that has become an electoral issue in the run up to the May 5 general elections. 

“I don’t see why it cannot be done,” Henrynus told The Malaysian Insider in an interview here. 

“We’ve recalled the ICs several times. We change from blue IC to “bunga raya” (hibiscus), bunga raya to the smart chip. It’s an administrative procedure. It’s only proper that everyone has to bring proof of citizenship,” he added, referring to the smart chip in the MyKad. 

De facto law minister Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz said last month it was difficult for the federal government to implement the proposal by Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) parties UPKO, PBS and PBRS to revoke ICs and reissue new ones to qualified citizens, pointing out that there were legal implications. 

Henrynus, however, warned Putrajaya that if it did not recall the ICs in the Borneo state, the outcome of subsequent elections in Sabah could be challenged by the public in court, due to the possibility of foreigners voting. 

He stressed today that PBS was not “anti-foreigner”. 

“For those foreigners with jobs, we ask them to get passports and we’ll give visas to work here. We don’t stop them from applying for citizenship, but we want them to go through the process of getting citizenship,” he said. 

The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in Sabah, which began last January, has revealed testimonies by Filipinos and other foreigners on how they received blue ICs within just a few years of arriving in Sabah and subsequently voted in elections. 

Then-Sabah NRD director Ramli Kamarudin also testified that then-Deputy Home Minister, the late Tan Sri Megat Junid Megat Ayub, had ordered him to issue NRD receipts to immigrants that allowed them to vote in the 1994 state election. 

A Special Branch officer testified last February that a syndicate involving then-Sabah NRD directors had made at least RM11 million from selling ICs to illegal immigrants in Sabah. 

There are 889,000 foreigners, or 28 per cent, out of the 3.2 million-strong population in Sabah, according to the 2010 census. 

The influx of illegal immigrants has enraged Sabah’s indigenous groups, particularly the KDM community, who often accuse them of committing crime and stealing job opportunities. 

Henrynus said that Sabahans would be “very upset” if the recommendations from the RCI, which needs to be completed by September, were not implemented by the federal government. 

He, however, declined to answer when asked if PBS would leave BN should the RCI’s suggestions be ignored.