What makes an ‘Ori’ Sabahan?

 

Official investigation: According to the writer, the Royal Commission of Inquiry report on illegal immigrants in Sabah, released in 2014, confirmed that thousands of foreigners were systematically granted citizenship in the 1980s and 1990s. – NORMIMIE DIUN/The Star

By PHILIP GOLINGAI

HOW do you sift ‘Ori’ (original) Sabahans from ‘Photocopy’ (fake) Sabahans?

At a conservative estimate, there are more than half a million people in Sabah with allegedly dubious citizenship. To sift them, some Sabahan assemblymen believe that the state needs a Sabah IC.

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Seri Yong Teck will push for a motion to issue Sabah identity cards during the state assembly meeting on March 24.

On March 4, I moderated an online forum organised by KupiKupi FM and Sabah Way Forward, which discussed “Do we need Sabah IC?” The panellists were nominated assemblyman Yong and Moyog assemblyman and Penampang MP Datuk Darell Leiking.

In answering the question “Do we need Sabah IC?”, Yong, who was a former Sabah chief minister, said the integrity of the MyKad, which is issued by the Federal Government, has been compromised.

Yong said there are people, who are not qualified to be Malaysian citizens, have been granted citizenship. To make matters worse, the MyKad issued to these dubious citizens has the code “12”, which means they are born in Sabah when they are foreign-born, he said.

“Sabah in protecting its sovereignty and rights in Malaysia needs a self-help solution. It is enough to talk to the Federal Government as it will not entertain the issuance of citizenship to foreigners who illegally claim to be born in Sabah when they are not,” he said.

Yong argued that under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and Immigration Act of Malaysia, entry of non-Sabahans into Sabah requires the state government’s consent.

“Therefore, the citizenship given by the Federal Government to ‘non-Malaysian’ and those not born in Sabah, if they insist, can be Malaysian citizen, but they are not Sabahans,” he said.

In 2018, The Star ran a report that Leiking wanted a Sabah IC for genuine Sabahans, and I asked the Parti Warisan deputy president whether he still stood by what he had demanded.

He explained that there was much evidence and proof that the MyKad belonging to some “Sabahans” had been compromised. He backed his assertion by referring, among others, to the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on illegal immigrants in Sabah.

In the RCI report released in 2014, the commission found that syndicates and individuals, assisted by corrupt officials, were responsible for issuing Malaysian ICs and documentation through illegal means. It also found that illegal immigrants did not find any difficulty in procuring Malaysian ICs, birth certificates and other documents to facilitate access to most rights of Malaysian citizenship.

In summary, the report confirmed that thousands of foreigners were systematically granted citizenship in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the online forum, Leiking said he remembered asking the Federal Government in 2016 whether it was willing to reissue ICs of Sabahans to filter out original and non-original Sabahans.

“The Federal Government said it would be invalid by law and it would be in breach of the Federal Constitution. So my proposal would be to maintain the MyKad but create a Sabah card through the state government,” said the former international trade and industry minister.

“So you will have two documents coexisting, and you will not be in breach of the Federal Constitution or whatever excuses the Federal Government gives. So there will be two cards and more privilege for Sabahans who are holding the Sabah card.”

The Ori Sabahans versus Photocopy Sabahans issue has haunted Sabah for decades.

One of the concerns is the phantom voters (illegals given documents to vote) who tipped the political demography of Sabah. It has also changed the state’s demographics where Ori Sabahans feel marginalised politically and economically by the Photocopy Sabahans.

With the recent report that there was a possible Sulu attack on Sabah and the Paris Arbitration Court’s decision to make the Malaysian government pay RM62bil to the supposed heirs of the Sulu sultanate, Sabahans are wondering whether there are musuh dalam selimut (or hidden enemies) in the state.

A study in 2020 by Institute for Development Studies, a Sabah government think tank, found that 82% of the respondents believed that a new Sabah-specific identity card (Sabah IC) could help reduce the presence of illegals in their state.

I asked both assemblymen, Yong and Leiking, the likelihood that the state assembly would consent to the proposal for the Sabah government to issue Sabah identity cards.

Leiking said obviously as the Moyog assemblyman he would support it. “I have not spoken to my party but anything that gives cognisance and recognition and correction or at least to filter out and make right the compromise MyKad has done by creating a Sabah card, I would support,” he said.

Yong, who is with the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah government, doesn’t anticipate any of the 78 members of the state assembly objecting. “There might be reservations from some members. But in any case, for the motion to pass, we only need a simple majority,” he said.

Yong predicted that by the next state elections, which is in three years, the Sabah IC would be in circulation by then.

If that happens, Sabahans might know who is Ori and who is Photocopy. - Star