No IMM13 passes issued – DG
KOTA KINABALU: Immigration Department Director-General Datuk Seri Hj Mustafar bin Hj Ali yesterday denied IMM13 passes were issued to children of Filipino refugees as he clarified that the registration exercise was actually a census conducted by the department to determine the number of these children in Sabah.
“We want to determine the actual number of children of IMM13 holders, with the purpose of looking into their human rights, particularly in terms of education and healthcare for these children.
“At the same time, we want to inspect the documents of the parents (IMM13 holders) to ensure all issues related to IMM13 are well addressed,” Mustafar said in a press conference here.
He assured that the department has not issued a single IMM13 pass between Oct 1 to Oct 12.
Thousands of Filipino refugees in Sabah were reported to be heading towards the Immigration office at Wisma Dang Bandang to get their children registered for the IMM13 pass since applications for it reopened on Oct 1.
In a statement on Oct 12, Immigration Sabah director Datuk Musa Sulaiman said the department had ceased with immediate effect the receipt of applications from IMM13 holders for the registration of their children to get the documents.
On the issue that the state government was unaware of the registration of IMM13 passes, Mustafar said he had talked to the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Shafie Apdal yesterday morning and Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Azis Jamman to explain the matter.
“Further action will be determined after discussions with the Chief Minister, Immigration Department, state government, Home Affairs Ministry and National Security Council (NSC) to make sure this issue is well managed.”
He said the public had mistaken the viral video of Filipino refugees flooding the Sabah Immigration Department’s office at Wisma Dang Bandang as registration for IMM13 passes.
Mustafar said the department was not carrying out registration for IMM13 but rather census to determine the actual number of the Filipino refugees’ children.
He said the Immigration Department would discuss with the state government on the welfare needs of these children, whose both parents were IMM13 holders, or one of the parents was an IMM13 holder who had married a local.
“These children want to go to school and they are facing difficulty in doing so without documents.
“We are not talking about the issuance of IMM13. Their parents have registered for IMM13 passes.
“We are talking about how well we can address the wellbeing of these families, meaning their children.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Datuk Seri Madius Tangau yesterday said the State Cabinet had never discussed the matter.
“In fact the renewal of IMM13 documents in Sabah was supposed to have been stopped in 2013,” he said.
Tangau, who is United Pasokmomogum KadazanDusun Organisation (Upko) president, said his party remained steadfast in its stance that there must no longer be renewal of IMM13 documents to the Filipino refugees in Sabah.
“In fact, we are pushing for the recalling of Sabah identity card (IC) for a long time.”
Tangau said all efforts must be made to strike off all Malaysian documents obtained in contravention of the Federal Constitution.
“Article 26 reads that “The Federal Government may by order deprive of his citizenship any citizen by registration or by naturalization if satisfied that the registration or certificate of naturalization .... (a) was obtained by means of fraud, false representation or the concealment of any material fact...”
Among them, Upko has been urging the government that to ensure IMM13 holders and their children with blue ICs be struck off, and this included any who have MyPR (red ICs).
“IMM13 is a timely reminder for Sabahans to seek full restoration of immigration autonomous right enshrined under MA63,” added Madius.
“Upko has been advocating for the withdrawal and reissuing of the identity card because in the interest of justice and to uphold the sanctity of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, and we have both a legal and moral obligation to do so.”