PBS welcomes NRD commitment to recall, reissue ICs in Sabah
KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) has welcomed the commitment from Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) Director Ismail Ahmad with regards to recalling and re-issuing all Malaysian identity cards (IC) issued in the state.
Its i nformation chief Datuk Jahid Jahim said the commitment was a positive development as the state and federal governments work towards resolving the illegal immigrants issue in Sabah.
PBS, Jahid said was in favour of the ICs issued in Sabah being recalled and new ones issued only to genuine Malaysians.
He pointed out that recalling the ICs is necessary so that proper vetting and screening of the applicants can be conducted and only those who qualify will be issued with a new IC.
“Focus and priority should be given to those who have applied and obtained their IC using the ‘Surat Akuan’ or ‘Surat Sumpah’ as those in this category are the ones whose nationality raises the most doubts,” he opined.
According to Jahid, verification of their nationality and ethnicity can be done with the ‘Anak Negeri’ certificate if they have it.
He stressed that the federal government has no choice but to listen to the voices of the grassroots who are calling for a ‘cleansing’ process so that those who had obtained their ICs through fraudulent means will be stripped of their Malaysian nationality.
“By doing this, the federal government can regain the rakyat’s confidence as to its sincerity and commitment in resolving the problem and ensuring that the Constitution and sovereignty of the state as well as country is protected,” Jahid said.
He said this in response to Ismail’s statement on Friday that should the Government decide to recall and reissue all ICs in the State, the Sabah NRD has all the resources needed, including manpower to do so.
While no such decision has been made, Ismail pointed out that Sabah NRD is ready and that such an exercise is possible and can be done, adding that all 29 branches statewide are adequate enough to carry out the verification of ICs and that the department has all the information needed to execute the exercise.
Meanwhile, acting Upko President Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau, when asked to comment on Ismail’s statement pointed out that there should not be any impediments to the exercise as the Government has changed the Malaysian IC five times over the years.
“Technically, there shouldn’t be a problem and we are seeking a consensus from all the BN components as to how this is to be done,” he said adding that those who have obtained their ICs through the proper channels should not have to worry about anything.
Madius, who was met at Upko’s headquarters in Penampang yesterday after receiving a courtesy call from a group of former MRSM students, was also asked about Upko’s contribution to the Technical Committee on the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
He replied, “The composition of the technical committee is not something we have expected. It is on record that we have pushed for Tan Sri Pairin to chair the committee hoping that it is going to be a Sabah BN committee and our hope that we would be able to reach a consensus for any proposal(s) that they were going to make (like) in the way we made the consensus decision to set up the RCI in the beginning but it turned out instead of a BN committee, they ended up having a working committee chaired by Tan Sri Pairin but all the other members are from various government agencies.