PM sincere about facilitating birth registration for Sabahans, says CM

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman wants the people of Sabah not to view negatively Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s announced move by the government to make the registration of births easier, especially in Sabah. He said the prime minister had a sincere motive, to facilitate the registration of births for people living in rural or remote areas.

“We should not view the effort negatively as there are children of locals in remote or interior areas who don’t have a birth certificate. “That is why the prime minister wants to help them,” he said after chairing a state cabinet meeting at Wisma Innoprise yesterday.

Musa, who is also chairman of the state Security Committee, was asked to comment on concerns among locals and state leaders including from Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties on the possibility of illegal immigrants taking advantage of this measure to gain citizenship by using dubious identity documents.

Musa said the registration of births by the National Registration Department (NRD) must adhere to the stipulated guidelines or regulations before the birth certificates were issued.

“The NRD does not simply or indiscriminately issue birth certificates. “It will only register the birth of locals or citizens of this country,” he added.

Musa also said the state cabinet welcomed the prime minister’s announcement on an additional allocation for improving roads and water supply in Sabah. On BN’s loss by a small margin in the Manik Urai state seat by-election Tuesday, Musa said it was still a positive sign for BN.

“It is clear that many of the voters in the area realise that only BN can improve their lot,” he said. In the by-election, PAS candidate Mohd Fauzi Abdullah defeated BN’s Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat by a 65-vote majority.

Mohd Fauzi, 50, garnered 5,348 votes while Tuan Aziz, 39, obtained 5,283.

Bernama

Giver of bribes to face action too!

The Home Ministry will take stern action not only on those accepting bribes but also those offering such gratification to ministry officials or agents to process applications for citizenship, entry permit, and birth certificates.

Its minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said the ministry would blacklist the names of the offenders, and approvals for their applications would be revoked if they were found to have given such gratification. He said this was because the ministry had not appointed any agent who charged a service fee of betweenRM5,000 and RM10,000 to manage each application.

“I received reports that there are certain agents who are approaching applicants whether for citizenship, entry permit or birth certificate, illegal foreign workers to ask for payments of betweenRM5,000 and RM10,000 to process such applications. This is actually bribery.

“I want to tell the public that I don’t allow such things and our sincerity has been abused, especially for the benefit of certain groups,” he told reporters after looking at more than 300 boxes containing files of applications for citizenship, entry permits and birth certificates at his office, here yesterday.

Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that among the 11 gifts for the people in conjunction with his first 100 days as Prime Minister was to speed up efforts to resolve the people’s citizenship problem.

Hishammuddin said this meant that any application submitted by anyone who had been blacklisted would not be considered at all in future. As such, he advised members of the public to deal directly with the relevant government agencies for their applications and to lodge police reports if they had any information or had been cheated by such agents. In the meantime, the ministry would speed up the processing of applications for citizenship, entry permit and birth certificate and targeted the end of the year to arrive at a decision on the applications.

However, Hishammuddin said the ministry was always guided by the existing regulations and requirements and would not arbitrarily approve applications that did not meet the requirements as it was aware of the negative impact and effects on the country.

He said he was also discussing with the relevant agencies to enable the processing of such applications to be speeded up in future to eliminate corruption.

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin did not deny that he had received threats from certain parties following his efforts to fight crime and expressed satisfaction with the performance of the police force in looking after his security. On another development, the minister said that the Meeting of the Cabinet Committee that merged the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers and Illegal Immigrants on Friday would also discuss the domestic maid issue. He said the meeting to be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin would scrutinise the requirements of the critical sectors that needed foreign workers.

“We will look at the sectors, the economic sectors that need foreign workers, let the cabinet committee discuss it in detail,” Hishammuddin added.

Be cautious with late birth registration by foreigners: SAPP

The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has urged the authorities, particularly the National Registration Department (NRD) to exercise caution when processing late birth registrations to prevent illegal immigrants acquiring citizenship using forged supporting documents or false declaration.

SAPP information chief Chong Pit Fah said it was believed that many illegal immigrants had obtained or acquired birth certificates through forged statutory declarations or popularly known as ‘Surat Akuan’.

“The issuance of those birth certificates was backdated 25 years ago and everybody knows that Sabah is still grappling with problems of illegal immigrants. That’s why it is vital for the NRD to be cautious when processing late birth registration,” he told Bernama here yesterday.

Chong was commenting on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s announcement in conjunction with his 100th day in office, last Saturday, that the government would speed up approvals for citizenship applications, including late birth registrations.

He said native chiefs and village chiefs issuing false statutory declaration to illegal immigrants are well documented facts, adding that they were reports that some local village chiefs had been arrested on suspicion of issuing dubious statutory declarations to foreigners, for pecuniary gains.

He said the issuance of citizenship documents such as statutory declaration to foreigners was a serious threat to national security and the perpetrators deserved to be punished by the law.

Chong expressed confidence that the Barisan Nasional (BN) State Government are aware of threats to national security, posed by Sabah’s phenomenal increase in population, since 1970.

The number of refugees from neighbouring countries increased unabated with the arrival of economic refugees attracted by the rapid economic development in Sabah and the prospect of employment, especially with the opening of vast land for oil palm plantations, he said.

— Bernama

End to listing mixed parentage in certs?

Email to a friend Printer Friendly THE National Registration Department has stopped accepting mixed parentage as a race when registering births, according to Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Deputy President Eric Majimbun. He said he recently received a complaint on this problem from a Chinese man married to a Dusun woman. "When their child was born and he (the Chinese man) went to register the birth at the NRD office, the department told him it no longer accepted the term 'Sino' as a race in the application. "It asked him to choose whether he wanted the child to be of his race or a Dusun," he said. Majimbun said the man told him he had to put the race of his child as Dusun although the child's name took his 'siang' (Chinese surname). He hoped the relevant authority will come up with a clarification on the matter and take action in line with the concept of 'People First, Performance Now' touted by the Prime Minister. Previously the norm was children from such marriages to be either listed as Sino-Kadazan should their parents be Chinese and Kadazan or Indo-Kadazan if they are of an Indian-Kadazan descent. NRD officials could not be reached for immediate comments.

SAPP wants issuing of documents to be transparent

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Deputy President Eric Majimbun said the Government's decision to speed up the approval of Malaysian citizenship and birth certificate registration, while welcome, must be implemented stringently and transparently.

He said while it is true there are many genuine locals in Sabah who do not have identity cards or even birth certificates, it would not help solve the problem but create more problems like foreigners taking advantage if not implemented responsibly.

He cited the case of a MyKad bearing his family surname Jerome Majimbun, who actually does not exist, that was seized from the hands of a Filipino a year or so ago and about which nothing has been done till now.

Majimbun, who is Sepanggar MP, was commenting on Monday's report quoting Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein as saying his Ministry will speed up the approval for Malaysian citizenship, entry permit and birth registration so long as the applications meet the criteria set by the Government, and that it targeted to process all applications by the end of the year.

This followed the 11 measures announced earlier by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in conjunction with his 100th day in office Saturday, which included measures to reduce crime and fight corruption as well as facilitating applications for registration of births in Sabah and Sarawak.

"I wish like to congratulate Hishamuddin for taking proactive action on the issuance of Malaysian citizenship and birth certificates. And at the same time, I also wish to remind him that more authority should be given to the NRD Director (Sabah) to seriously screen the applications," Majimbun said.

Meanwhile, SAPP Information Chief Chong Pit Fah said many illegal immigrants had obtained or acquired birth certificates through forged statutory declarations or popularly known as "Surat Akuan".

"The issuance of those birth certificates was backdated 25 years ago and everybody knows that Sabah is still grappling with problems of illegal immigrants. That's why it is vital for the NRD to be cautious when processing late birth registration," he said.

He said native chiefs and village chiefs issuing false statutory declaration to illegals are well documented facts, adding there were reports that some local village chiefs had been arrested on suspicion of issuing dubious statutory declarations to foreigners for pecuniary gains.

He said the issuance of citizenship documents such as statutory declaration to foreigners was a serious threat to national security and the perpetrators deserved to be punished by the law.

Chong expressed confidence that the Barisan Nasional (BN) State Government is aware of threats to national security, posed by Sabah's phenomenal increase in population, since 1970.

The number of refugees from neighbouring countries increased unabated with the arrival of economic refugees attracted by the rapid economic development in Sabah and the prospect of employment, especially with the opening of vast land for oil palm plantations, he said.

"Since the 1973 influx of illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries spanning about 30 years, Sabah's population had recorded a 328 percent increase (from below 700,000 in 1970 to almost three million in 2005) compared with Sarawak's increase of 130 percent," he said.

Meanwhile, Tamparuli Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) supports the statement by PBS Youth chief Datuk Jahid Jahim on the issue. Its committee member, Stephen Jaya said this is important in the interest of the society in Sabah and also its future generations because the issue of dubious ICs and illegals has burdened the State and the people in Sabah.

"And yet, these issues have not been resolved," he said in a statement. He said there are many people in rural areas who have no identification documents. Hence, the exercise must be carried out carefully to prevent those not qualified from owning such important documents accorded only to genuine Malaysians.

Jahid had said a mechanism should be in place to detect the possibility of misuse of authority involving citizenship applications in Sabah.

The Sabah Justices of Peace Council (Majaps), while lauding the Prime Minister's promise to deal with the problem of birth certificate and citizenship matters in Sabah and Sarawak, had said such assurance was pointless if no support was given to the courts.

Its Honorary Secretary, Datuk Lawrence Thien said this is because of the need to validate any late registration of birth certificates in view of the large immigrant population in Sabah.

"If not such certificates issued by the NRD are not admissible in evidence and if used to issue Identity Cards (ICs), it will mean the Government is using inadmissible documents to give citizenship. "If that is the case many illegals will get citizenship," he had said.

Through the courts, he said illegals would be filtered out and only those born in Sabah with parents originally from Sabah would land these documents. Consumer Association of Sabah and Labuan (Cash) President Datuk Patrick Sindu also urged caution on the matter.

"The issue of citizenship is never-ending in Sabah beginning with the IC Project in early 1980s.

"We fear more foreigners, namely illegal immigrants, would see this as an opportunity to apply for citizenship using doubtful identification documents," he said. He said that mobilising courts to rural areas, whereby magistrates could do proper vetting, was the best way to resolve late birth registration issues.

Malaysia agrees on four issues on Indonesian maids

Malaysia has agreed on four issues on Indonesian housemaids, namely one day off per week, insurance coverage, improving the standard contract, and monthly or regular salary payment.

Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said these were the only areas that both countries had agreed upon following discussions several months ago, while the other issues would be discussed at the next meeting.

“The date (of the meeting) has been deferred as they requested. (The meeting)... not this Wednesday,” he said after launching the Asia e-Learning Conference, here, yesterday.

The bilateral meeting, he added, would involve him and Indonesian Labour Minister Erman Suparno in Kuala Lumpur by the end of this month.

The meeting comes in the wake of Indonesia’s announced decision to stop sending housemaids to Malaysia until this coming meeting to discuss a new migrant worker agreement following reported cases of maid abuse.

“The discussion will be continual. We will agree on areas which we think we can agree on and we are also asking them to fulfil some of our requests, so that we can create an environment which both sides are happy about,” Dr Subramaniam said.

On e-education, that is, online learning and CD-based learning which allows individuals to access courses without being bound by time, space and level, he said the government hoped that all Malaysians could utilise it but did not set a target.

On the 11 “goodies” announced by Datuk Seri Najib Razak in conjunction with his 100th day as prime minister, Dr Subramaniam said these were for the good of the people.

“This was to inform the people that the government would always put the needs and interests of the people first,” he said.

Over 8,000 foreigners inspected during ops this year

Police inspected 8,755 foreigners from early this year until 12 July during various operations in major districts throughout the state.

Of these, 4,155 were found without valid travel documents and even suspected of committing criminal offences.

State Police Commissioner Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim told the media yesterday that police referred 2,983 of the immigrants to the Immigration Department for further action.

Those detained on suspicion of crime have been further remanded, he added after attending a monthly gathering in Kepayan.

Noor Rashid said the integrated operation to flush out illegal immigrants is still being conducted.

Meanwhile, he advised young motorists to exercise greater caution on the road as the majority of accidents reported in Sabah involved Perodua Kancil cars with young drivers who were speeding.

Noor Rashid presented letters of commendation to 14 officers including State Criminal Investigation Department Deputy Head ACPMohd Shariff Abd Wahid and Sandakan deputy police chief Supt Fadzil Mohd Ali.

Be cautious when speeding up citizenship approvals, govt urged

The government has been advised to practice caution when speeding up approval of citizenship applications for fear of possible abuse of authority.

“We must be careful about this matter to ensure that no one abuses it,” said Assistant Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Jahid Jahim in response to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s announcement on the matter.

Najib had said on Saturday that the government would speed up approval for citizenship applications including late birth registration. It was one of 11 people-friendly measures announced in conjunction with his first 100 days in office as prime minister.

Najib said that in Sabah 36,000 applications for registration of births were received since 2005 and that 92 percent of these were approved, while 80 percent of 19,000 applications in Sarawak since the same year were approved.

On citizenship, he said the number of applications pending as at Nov 1 last year was 34,000 and that as of last month 46 percent had been approved and efforts would be intensified to resolve the remaining applications.

Although he welcomed the announcement as good for the people of the State, Jahid, who is also Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Youth chief, urged the government to set up a practical mechanism to detect possible abuses.

He stressed the importance of setting up the mechanism to ensure that the effort would benefit the targeted group.

According to reports an estimated 444,000 foreigners are in the State from which 230,000 of them are legally employed while 130,000 are illegal immigrants and the rest are refugees from the Philippines. Meanwhile, Bernama reported Consumer Association of Sabah and Labuan (Cash) president Datuk Patrick Sindu as also calling on the government to be careful when approving citizenship applications.

“We fear another catastrophe will happen. The issue of citizenship is never-ending in Sabah beginning with the IC Project in the early 1980s.

“We fear more foreigners, namely illegal immigrants, would see this as an opportunity for them to apply for citizenship using doubtful identification documents,” he said. Sindu added that mobilising of courts to rural areas, whereby magistrates could do the proper vetting, was the best way to resolve late birth registration issues.