Canadian citizen but voter in Sarawak

Chief Minister Taib Mahmud's daughter Jamilah holds a dual citizenship.

KUCHING: Even as the opposition here has called for the 20,180 postal voters in Sarawak to be barred from voting here, a new revelation has surfaced – that of dual citizenship holders who are registered as voters.

The latest disclosure is that Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s daughter Jamilah is a Canadian citizen but is registered as a voter in Sarawak.

Jamilah is also mired in controversy over her involvement in some 80 companies in Sarawak.

In Malaysia, it is an offence to hold two passports and be citizens in both countries. Jamilah holds both Malaysian and Canadian citizenship.

Jamilah, 51, has been living in Canada for the past 30 years. She is married to a Canadian businessman Sean Murray and is widely known to be her father’s nominee.

Her full name, Jamilah Hamidah Taib, and her identity card details appear in both the Satok state and Petra Jaya parliamentary constituency list.

Satok assemblyman is Abang Johari Tun Haji Openg, who is Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) deputy president and a close ally of Taib.

Petrajaya MP is Fadillah Yusof. He retained his seat in the 2008 general election, garnering 19,505 votes. He too is closely aligned to Taib.

The disclosure of Jamilah’s dual citizenship came about inadvertently when her husband Murray issued a statement explaining why he and his wife did not want to be interviewed on a Canadian prime time programme “16×9”.

The programme spoke of the deforestation in Sarawak and the Taib’s family’s investment in Ottawa.

More questions

An excerpt of the statement, which was aired on the programme, reads: “My wife and I are private Canadian citizens. She has lived here for more than 30 years and we have no interest in being interviewed in the press about ourselves, our business, our relatives or about Malaysian politics…. ”

The verbal slip has thrown into light interesting questions.

In Sarawak, there’s curiosity as to whether Taib himself is a dual citizenship holder.

Taib’s wealth extends to eight countries, according to the Swiss-based Bruno Manser Fund (BMF).

BMF released the names of 49 companies in eight countries which were linked to Taib. At least four countries have relented to BMF pressure and are investigating the source of these companies’ wealth.

BMF claims that the origin of Taib’s wealth in these countries was from the deforestation and displacement of the indigenous communities in Sarawak.

Just in Sarawak itself, Taib and his family sit in some 330 companies in Sarawak, acting as directors in many of them.

It is a known fact that a number of corporate leaders in Malaysia hold dual citizenship. But it would be interesting to know how many of our current political leaders or their families hold dual citizenships. Are they all registered as voters here?

Also, is it right for candidates with “conditional” loyalty to the King and country to decide for the genuine Malaysians? Is it right for such leaders to helm and steer Malaysia?

And does Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s vetting process for “winnable” and Pakatan Rakyat’s “principled” candidates include screening them for citizenship, loyalty and patriotism?

‘No room for negotiation if caught’

In 2008, then home ministry parliamentary secretary Abdul Rahman Ibrahim said that Malaysians found holding dual citizenship would have their Malaysian citizenship revoked automatically.

He said the government had revoked the citizenship of 5,310 Malaysians who held dual citizenship.

He said the government detects dual citizenship from reports from Malaysian embassies and consulates overseas, the Immigration Department, police and also the National Registration Department.

“Once we detect Malaysians with dual citizenship or two passports, their Malaysian citizenship is automatically revoked. There is no room to negotiate or choose,” he said.