No IMM13 registration: D-G
Published on: Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Immigration Director-General Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali (pic) denied Monday that any registration of children of IMM13 pass holders was carried out in Sabah. Instead, he said, what the Department did was to "merely conduct a census on the status of these children". "We are not talking about issuance of any IMM13, we are talking about how well we can address in terms of the wellbeing of their family, meaning to say the children of IMM13 pass holders," he told a media conference at Le Meridien.
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He said he spoke to Chief Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal and Deputy Home Minister Datuk Azis Jaman on the matter. "It is to determine the actual number of children of IMM13 pass holders in addition to looking into their human rights, especially education, health and our preparedness to provide all these. "At the same time we also review documents of their parents to ensure all issues related to IMM13 can be administered properly," he said. However, he declined comment when asked by reporters how or who advised the foreigners to make a bee line to the Immigration Department office to the extent that hundreds surged all at once, resulting in the security personnel being unable to control them.
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"As I said, when people started flooding the premises after hearing such statements, we have explained this and as I said earlier, we will further discuss the matter with the State Government, Ministry of Home Affairs and National Security Council to ensure that this can be administered properly. "This is also a concern at international level, even the United Nations is concerned, and as a concerned government discussions have to be done to address this."
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He said he explained to Shafie on how best they can address the issue, adding that further discussions would be held between the Department, the State Government, Home Affairs Ministry and the National Security Council on the matter. Mustafar said he doesn't know how long the discussion would take but was certain that it would be some time for further action to be taken as it involves various departments and agencies.He was commenting on recent video clips showing Filipino refugees surging into the State Immigration Department's Special Unit at Wisma Dang Bandang that surfaced on social media.The incident gained media coverage with State Immigration Director Datuk Musa Sulaiman initially saying that applications for the IMM13 pass had been re-opened and barely a day later announcing the immediate suspension of new registrations for the refugee card, two weeks after the operation began on Oct 1. The State Government came under attack in social media over the issue and Shafie said he was shocked after finding out the matter and ordered the registration of children of parents with IMM13 pass to be halted immediately. Asked about the Chief Minister saying he was not aware, Mustafar said in earlier meetings attended by the State Immigration Director the Government had raised concern. He said since the video went viral, the Department decided to stop the census because the people had a misconception on the matter. "We need to have a more in-depth discussion on how to address this issue," he said. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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