3,000 swarm NRD office over fake message
PUTRAJAYA: More than 3,000 people swarmed the National Registration Department (NRD) headquarters here yesterday, no thanks to a fake message on WhatsApp and Facebook.
The message claimed that the NRD here was offering citizenship to those holding Permanent Resident (PR) status. The “offer” was only valid for one day — yesterday.
Those with PR status — red identity card holders — had gathered at the headquarters as early as 3am in hopes of obtaining citizenship, completely unaware that the message they received was fake.
NRD public relations officer Fara Maya Ahmad Jelani said 3,000 people had come from all over the country and queued up even before the office opened at 7.45am.
“We were aware of the rumour since last week because we have been getting inquiries since Monday.
“However, we faced an unusually huge crowd today,” she said.
To handle the swelling crowd, she said more counters had to be opened at other levels of the building to ensure that other services were not disrupted.
Fara Maya said applications for Malaysian citizenship were done on a daily basis at the department.
“An application could take months or years to be approved, depending on the eligibility of the applicant,” she said.
She said this message had caused trouble not only for the people who wanted to make the application, but also for NRD staff here.
“Although we told the crowd that the message was not true, people The of NRD
were still reluctant to leave,” she said, adding that many of the applicants arrived by chartered buses from other states.
“I believe a handful of unscrupulous individuals who acted as agents are responsible, and that they charged high fees for applicants to come here,” she said.
Among the nationalities swarming the NRD office yesterday were Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Cambodians and Indonesians.
Fara Maya said a police report had
headquarters in Putrajaya yesterday. been lodged at the Putrajaya police headquarters.
Indonesian Shahrin Nasution, 51, from Mentakab, Pahang, said he was informed about the “offer” by his cousin.
“He (my cousin) said I could immediately get my citizenship if I come today and apply,” said the businessman from Medan, who has been living in Malaysia for more than 30 years.
Another Indonesian, Yanti Samrah Suhaimi, 29, from Selayang, said it was her mother who alerted her about the message.
“My mother insisted that we come to NRD to apply for Malaysian citizenship. We later found out that it was a hoax, but my mother and I still want to pursue our applications to become Malaysians,” said Yanti, who works as an assistant manager at a coffee shop.
Hailing from Pekan Baru, Indonesia, she said her four other siblings who were born here had obtained Malaysian citizenship status.