Pakistani with blue IC 'was threatened' when voting

SABAH RCI A man from Pakistan who came to Sabah and got a blue identity card by improper means said he was threatened by locals when trying to vote in an election, the royal commission of inquiry on immigrants in Sabah heard today.

Abdullah Mahmod, 55, who arrived in Sabah through Kuala Lumpur with his uncle when he was 10-years-old, said he obtained his blue identity card without having to obtain the other prerequisite documents.

"When Harris Salleh (right) was chief minister, I went to Kota Kinabalu to apply for an identity card and they (National Registration Department) asked me to provide them my photograph.

"I told them I am illiterate, and so they also filled the forms from me. After that, I got the blue identity card," Abdullah said.

He said the identity card stated his race as ‘Malay'.

Abdullah said he had voted a total of six times since he obtained a blue identity card and did so for the first time in Keningau.

"At that time Joseph Pairin Kitingan was contesting and he was in the opposition. Everyone was allowed to vote except for me.

"The people there demanded for my birth certificate but I did not have one. But a police later came and allowed me to vote," he said.

Abdullah testified at the Kota Kinabalu court complex that since then, he had voted in Beaufort instead.

"I don't vote in Keningau anymore because people want to beat me up. Even though I've lived there for a long time, they don't like me, the gangsters there want to beat me up," he said.

Abdullah had in 1990 married a local woman and now have three children, all of whom have blue identity cards which make them citizens.

'Musa Hitam is Sabah CM'

Meanwhile, another witness to take the stand was 52-year-old Zainal Abidin Mohamad who was born in Tamilnadu, India.

Zainal who arrived in Sabah via Penang and Kuala Lumpur in 1979 with an Indian passport said he obtained a blue identity card in 1990 without prior Malaysian documents.

"A friend called Ghani brought me to the National Registration Department in Kota Belud, he helped handle everything including the statutory declaration," said the restaurant owner.

Zainal whose name appears as such in his identity card was initially known as Bashir when he was in India.

When queried about his Malaysian knowledge, Zainal who has a wife from India and four children, also born in India, appeared to fumble.

Q: Who is the Prime Minister?
A: Nasim

Q: Who is the Sabah chief minister?
A: Musa

Q: Musa what?
A: Musa Hitam

At this, the court room burst into laughter. Musa Hitam was a former deputy prime minister while Musa Aman is the existing Sabah chief minister.

A total of eight witnesses testified during the first day of the sixth RCI session today.

A total of 147 witnesses have taken the stance since the RCI hearing began in January this year.