Illegal immigrants: Turning a blind eye

The dubious Mykad problem that has plagued Sabah for decades has produced some startling consequences.

By Queville To

KOTA KINABALU: The dubious Mykad problem that has plagued Sabah for decades and was investigated by a Royal Commission of Inquiry last year has produced some startling consequences.

Take the case of the six Pakistani taxi drivers caught in Klang Valley showing off their made-in-Sabah Mykads when stopped during a routine check recently.

It comes just months after some 20 security guards were found to be holding fake identity  documents identifying them as Sabahans.

That case only came to light after a security guard masquerading as a Sabahan was arrested on suspicion of committing a robbery-cum-murder at a bank.

In the recent case in the peninsula, the taxi drivers admitted that they were born in Pakistan but  their Mykads had the number ’12’ identifying them as born in Sabah. 

What was even more disturbing was that the six were reportedly just issued letters to report to the National Registration Department (NRD) within seven days to sort out their identification documentation.

STAR Sabah chief, Jeffrey Kitingan, commenting on the case said this was simply ridiculous.

He said bogus Malaysians claiming to be from Sabah would continue to appear as long as the federal government failed to take the issue seriously.

How could the authorities allow people who seem to have been “born twice” – once in their home country and another time in Sabah – obtain such documents, he asked.

“Why were they not arrested and detained on the spot and further investigations carried out?

“There is no reason to release the Pakistanis who were obviously in possession of fraudulent ICs or MyKads and were not genuine Malaysian citizens. They would also be running foul of the immigration laws as well,” he said.

No action from Sabah BN

The Bingkor assemblyman said the actions of the enforcement officers amount to gross negligence.

“With such an apathetic attitude, it won’t be surprising that when these Pakistanis present themselves at the NRD, they will be issued with another set of identification cards,” he said. 

According to the census and standard models of population growth, there may be as many as 1.5 million of such fake IC holders in the state.

Kitingan said it was also curious why the present Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders had not done anything to rectify the mistakes of past leaders who seem to have facilitated the issuance of the Malaysian citizenship to unqualified foreigners.

He described the actions of those leaders as “treason of the highest order”.

“Already fake Sabah ICs have turned up through the arrests of foreigners with fake MyKads and working as security guards amidst a spate of violent crimes.  Now its the turn of taxi drivers.  

“Who knows who will turn up next with fake ICs? Maybe even government servants, army and security personnel, maybe even politicians and ministers,” he said.

Kitingan said if Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak failed to order an immediate and thorough investigation into the case of Pakistanis’ and make public the investigations, he would be no different from the previous leaders who were complicit in the issuance of dubious ICs in Sabah.

“The Sabah government needs to sit up and take action to issue a new Sabah ICs for genuine Sabahans and a Sabah Non-Resident Card for non-Sabahans to weed out fake Sabahans,” he said.

With new Sabah ICs issued, he said, bogus Sabahan and Malaysians would be weeded out.

“The Sabah government need to safeguard the sovereignty of Sabah and security of Sabahans and Malaysians. The government has no alternative but to issue such Sabah ICs even if means it will remove many Umno members from the electoral rolls. 

“The Sabah government leaders need to show that they love Sabah more and not their positions and vested interests.

“Ideally, with the issuance of the Sabah IC, the Sabah government should establish a Sabah Homeland Security Ministry and regain control of immigration, national registration and security to safeguard the sovereignty of Sabah as well as the security and well-being of all Sabahan Malaysians,” he added.