WILL PAKISTANI BE THE BEST MALAYSIAN?

By : DR CHONG ENG LEONG

SOMEONE in Keningau posted some documents to me and I received them today – about one IHSAN ULLAH who was granted Malaysian citizenship after two years of arrival in Sabah from Pakistan. This was also highlighted in local papers yesterday.

This reminded me of the RCI on illegal immigrants and the Project IC in Sabah – the RCI was agreed by Federal Cabinet in Feb this year but took our PM five months later to announce it. Two more months before the TOR were ready and another two months before the Commissioners received their letter of appointment.

But by today still no news of any hearing yet. Why? Has the RCI suffered from an infantile paralysis? The RCI was supposed to complete its jobs six months after the Commissioners received their letter of appointment, before the next general elections which must be held within the next five months – this just proves that the BN Government is not serious on solving this security cum sovereignty issue.

In fact, BN government is still entertaining this treacherous activity as proven by this Ihsan Ullah’s case.

This Ihsan Ullah, born in Pakistan in 1993, was granted Malaysian citizenship according to Federal Constitution Article 15 (2) and signed by the Home Minister himself on 16 Dec 2011.

Article 15 deals with Citizenship by Registration (wives and children of citizens). Article 15(2) is for any person below age of 21 years of whose parents one at least is a citizen.

Ihsan entered KL on 12 June 2010 and Sabah on 14 June 2010 on Pakistan Passport, on social visit visa issued by Malaysian High Commissioner in Pakistan. His social visit visa was valid till 11 Sept 2010.

On 6 Sept 2010 he was issued multiple entry visa by Sabah State Immigration Dept at Kota Kinabalu, valid till 6 Sept 2011. This was extended on 12 Aug 2011 at Keningau Immigration Office, valid till 6 Sept 2012; and again extended on 29 Aug 2012 valid till 6 Sept 2013.

He was granted Malaysian citizenship in December 2011 – why the need to apply in August 2012 for the extension of the multiple entry permit?

His father of Kg Masjid Keningau had old Sabah IC number of H0480263, a number within the know Project IC numbers and as father applied citizenship by registration for Ilsan Ullah as his son. Father’s new IC number is coded 12 indicative of being born in Sabah. Is there any proof of this father-son relationship? Is father really a bona fide Sabahan?

This reminded me of another Pakistan who was supposed to be deported back to Pakistan few years ago but appealed to High Court in KL on the ground that his Malaysian citizenship was unconstitutionally revoked. His old Sabah IC number was also within the Project IC numbers.

He told the Court that he was born in Pakistan although his Sabah blue IC stated that he was born in Sabah. He told the Court that he got his Sabah blue IC in two weeks of being in Sabah, using Sijil Akuan, and had to promise to vote for BN during general elections. The Court was told that there were a few thousand Pakistani issued such ICs using Sijil Akuan at that time.

Sabah has about 800,000 Project IC citizens now, out of about 2.4 million 'Malaysian' citizens – one third of 'Malaysians' in Sabah now is a Project citizen. Think about it – where is the security and sovereignty of Sabah within Malaysia?