Govt mulls identity cards for foreign nationals in Sabah

 

Sending foreign nationals in Sabah back to their countries of origin will be a problem, says home minister Hamzah Zainudin. (Bernama pic)

PUTRAJAYA: The government is considering a proposal by the Sabah government to provide identity cards to foreign nationals in the state.

Home minister Hamzah Zainudin said he met with Sabah officials today and agreed that “everyone living in Sabah” must have an identity card or similar documents.

“The problem in Sabah is that some of the foreign nationals have been staying there for 30 years, some for two or three generations,” he said after the meeting in Putrajaya.

“If we want to send them back to their countries of origin, they would not remember their families or their villages.”

Hamzah said the identity cards would allow foreign nationals to work in Malaysia legally and their children to have access to social services such as education.

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