Kota Kinabalu: Tamparuli Assemblyman Datuk Wilfred Bumburing has suggested to the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah that all Malaysian identity cards (ICs) in Sabah be recalled and new ones re-issued to those who qualified as a solution to this prolonged problem. He saw no reason why the government cannot do this because in the past it did change the ICs and re-issued new ones.
Basically, he said, the Government has three options, that is, to recall all the ICs; recall those ICs issued from certain years when the alleged issuance of illegal ICs started; or recall just the known or suspected illegal ICs to be verified.
When asked by the conducting officer how to prove a 30-something year-old document like Surat Akuan (statutory declaration) was forged, Bumburing who is also Sabah Reform Movement (APS) President said it can be done because there should be supporting documents.
"Time factor is not an issue," he added. To another question that local Sabahans who have yet to register their birth (late registration case) would be at a disadvantage if this was carried out, Bumburing said there are ways for genuine Sabahans to ascertain their identities and to differentiate them from immigrants.
On what would happen to those children of immigrants who have been in Sabah and educated or even working in the government department if the government suddenly retracts their ICs, Bumburing said:
"The period of time you spent staying in a place does not automatically give you citizenship if you do not go through the proper procedure."
"The government can give them temporary documents, red IC (Permanent Resident or MyPR), or other alternative documents to allow them to stay legally until everything is sorted out."
Bumburing, who was formerly Barisan Nasional component Upko's Deputy President, also presented to the commissioners a YouTube video clip from a television programme in Indonesia, which he claimed contains interviews with Indonesians in Sandakan who testified that many of them or their relatives have been given Malaysian ICs in Sabah.
The conducting officer, however, pointed out the clips showed young children of Indonesian ancestry celebrating Malaysia's independence day because they are now Malaysian, after their ancestors chose to be Malaysians. The video clip also stated the Indonesians came to Malaysia about 30 years ago.
To a question, Bumburing said the ICs were issued to immigrants not through the proper channel to serve as a political tool, i.e., to change the demographic of Sabah.
It began in 1984, with the sole objective of defeating the then opposition Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) State Government.
"The objective was very clear," he said.
To a question from Commissioner Tan Sri Herman Luping on whether there has been any clear evidence of illegal ICs when he (Bumburing) did research for a memorandum he submitted (to the Federal Government while he was still in Upko) and with the number and names recorded, Bumburing said:
"Yes, one of the cases is a Pengetua (school principal)Éthere are so many that I have in the memorandum. The government knows who are the ones they have issued the ICs to, so it can be done."
Earlier, Bumburing said he decided to submit the said memorandum, which contains information and proof of existence of unlawfully issued ICs, after then Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein told him in 2010 that there is no project IC and asked him to submit to his Ministry for action if he had proof.
"Because of this I, with the help of several friends, then conducted a survey, interviews and bound them in a memorandum. I submitted the document containing information and proof of the existence of unlawfully issued ICs to his Ministry, but it took a full year for the ministry to finally respond," he said.
Bumburing, who was at that time Tuaran MP, said he asked about it in Parliament because there were a lot of books and statements in Sabah and other parts of Malaysia on the unlawful issuance of Ics.
"As MP I then brought the matter up in Parliament," he said. A copy of the written answer was also submitted to the commissioners but was not read out during the proceeding.
The commissioners wanted to know detailed mechanism not just in implementing the exercise but also in managing the consequences, which to date is still absent as there were only proposals like recalling the issued Ics.
He claimed that with the alarming increase in Sabah's population, this would change the landscape of the Borneo state, and also directly affect the result of the polls.
"Take the Likas constituency for example, it used to be an area with a Chinese majority.
But now that is no longer the case and everyone is aware that immigrants can directly affect the election results."
"Look at Batu Sapi, it is clear that foreign immigrants outnumber local voters.
Of the 48 parliamentary seats in Sabah, there are just 18 non-Muslim majority seats compared with 20 previously.
"But the Muslim majority areas have increased to 24 from 20 and the remaining six seats are Chinese majority areas. The government is aware that the RCI will resolve this problem as many have been issued unofficial identity cards."
He added that 10 per cent of foreign immigrants who received identity cards had not even applied but still got it. He claimed that 90 per cent of them had bought the identity cards.
The RCI had been told previously that Sabah had issued 12 times more identity cards compared with Sarawak, with 66,000 illegal immigrants in the Borneo state having received blue identity cards since 1963.
In Sarawak, only 5,373 illegals in Sarawak had been issued blue identity cards between 1963 and 2012.
It is estimated that 28 per cent of Sabah's 3.2 population or 889,000 are foreigners.
Also testifying before the RCI was a National Registration Department (NRD) Mobile Registration Unit Head, Siti Amirah Abdullah, who said the department has never registered foreigners for Malaysian identification documents.
Apart from that, she said the department has never made such a mistake of giving to foreigners Malaysian birth certificates and ICs.
The allegations made against the department are baseless and false, she said.
Her mobile unit issued out a total of 44,426 replacement ICs in Sabah from 2000 to 2013, while for first ICs, the number was 28,718.
