Liew: Why suddenly only now Sabah NRD is aware?

LIKAS Assemblyman Datuk Liew Teck Chan on Monday questioned why only now the National Registration Department (NRD) is aware that there are still many people in Sabah without birth certificates even though the matter has existed for a very long time.

Debating the government policy speech at the State Legislative Assembly, he was referring to a statement by Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman that there are "40,000 Malaysians" in Sabah without the birth certificate or other forms of valid identification documents.

Abu Seman, he said, had stated that in Semporna alone, there are about 4,000 people without identification documents.

According to him, the Federal Government has been requested prior to this to assist genuine Sabah locals to obtain birth certificates and identification documents especially those living in the interior and remote areas.

"So, I am of the opinion that the officers in the NRD should have conducted their duty with full responsibility according to the guideline and existing laws when issuing birth certificates for late registration," he said.

In fact, he said Abu Seman stated that a mobile registration service is in the process of conducting visits to several districts in Sabah to help register those without birth certificate.

To this, Liew said Sabah NRD should employ more locals from Sabah to work for the department and empower them to vet the applications for identification documents.

"I am confident and firmly believe that local officers are more knowledgeable and know who the applicants are," he said.

Liew also raised the issue of power disruptions in several areas in Sabah.

He said the recent blackouts in QEH 1 really caused concern among the people because of the danger and risk it posed to the patients receiving treatment and check-ups.

He said the situation was aggravated when the emergency generator failed to function during the critical period.

Because of the power disruption, the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) had to stop giving treatment to the patients there temporarily until power was restored, he said.

"It was also reported that most of the blood kept in the blood bank became bad and thus had to be discarded," he said.

To this, he said if there were cases of emergency during that critical period, it would have had serious repercussion on the patients.

On water, Liew said many areas in Sabah such as Kudat, Beaufort, Lahad Datu, Kuala Penyu and also in rural areas, among others, were still facing water supply problems.

He said there was simply inadequate clean water for supply to the population in the areas concerned.

At this juncture, he asked why the problem could not be settled.

The RM235 million Milau Dam, he said, started operating in July last year but water supply in Kudat is still not settled.

The problem, he said, was due to several cases of broken pipes.

-dailyexpress