Strip those selling MyKads of their citizenship, urges PBS

Sabah deputy police chief Zaini Jass (centre) revealing they had busted a syndicate offering birth certificates and identity cards for sale in Semporna last month.

KOTA KINABALU: Anyone caught issuing birth certificates and identity documents should be stripped of their Malaysian citizenship, says Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) vice-president Johnny Mositun.

He said jail terms and fines were insufficient.

“This is treason, and those committing this sort of crime are traitors to our country. They don’t deserve to be citizens,” he said in a statement here today.

He was commenting on a recent case in Semporna where three men, including a National Registration Department (NRD) officer, were arrested for selling birth certificates and identity cards with falsified information last month.

Police said the trio, believed to be part of a syndicate that has been active since early last year, was uncovered after a 35-year-old man in the Semporna east coast district was offered a birth certificate for RM3,500 and a MyKad for RM6,000.

Among the items seized from the suspects were genuine late-birth and MyKad registration forms, obtained from the NRD, as well as several rubber stamps purportedly belonging to government departments and related agencies.

Johnny Mositun.

Among the 34 stamps seized were those supposedly from the Sabah Islamic Affairs Department (JHEAINS), NRD, the Tawau and Semporna hospitals, the native court, the district health office, village chiefs and a commissioner for oaths.

Mositun backed a recent call by party president Maximus Ongkili that the government investigate the involvement of not just NRD officials but also political parties in these activities.

“From the onset of this problem decades ago, it has become apparent that certain political parties and their leaders are abetting and orchestrating the issuance of Malaysian citizenship documents to foreigners.

“The royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in Sabah clearly showed this to be true.

“I don’t know why its findings and proposed remedial action have not been made public,” he said.

Mositun said it might be necessary for the government to re-visit and act on the findings of the RCI.

“And if necessary, a second RCI should be conducted. One way or the other, this matter must be laid to rest for good.” - FMT