Kota Kinabalu: The citizenship status of newly-elected Api-Api Assemblywoman Christina Liew was raised at the hearing of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Wednesday.Sabah Suluk Ethnic Clan Association Secretary Mohd Zaki Harry Suisanto, who was testifying as the 123rd witness, believed that Liew was a Chinese Indonesian who had somehow obtained a Malaysian IC.
However, RCI panel member Tan Sri Henry Chin queried Zaki about raising the issue on Christina's citizenship, who was previously known as Christina Hadikusumo.
Chin said the accusation was false because he personally knew Christina's family, including the parents, and assured that Christina is a Sabahan.
"Christina was born at the Tawau hospital and her parents are from Hong Kong.
I knew Christina's families and her parents. Later, Christina married an Indonesian manÉI can assure that Christina is a Sabahan," said the former Tawau OCPD.
Zaki replied that Tawau residents have queried why the RCI focused much on descendants of Bugis (Indonesia) and Suluk (Philippines) as recipients of fake Malaysian identity cards when it should cover all foreign ethnic groups as well.
"They claimed that Christina is a Chinese from Indonesia and yet, she had obtained the Malaysian blue identity card and was now going against the government by being in the opposition," he said.
Zaki, who is also Umno Tawau Education Bureau secretary, then questioned the birth certificate of Christina.
"There is a possibility that she was not born in Tawau and maybe her birth certificate is a late registration. And maybe also she obtained the document through other means," speculated the former police officer.
On the Lahad Datu intrusion, Zaki told Conducting Officer Datuk Azmi Arifin that the incident was an insult to the Suluk community in Sabah as Tausug and Suluk are two different races.
"The society needs to know the difference between the Tausug and Suluk racesÉwhen I was among the peacekeepers in Timor Leste, Indonesia several years ago, I had friends among the Filipinos who joined the mission and their race was Tausug.
"When I told them that my race is SulukÉthey (Tausug) could not understand what I was saying to them in Suluk. According to them, there is no Suluk in the Philippines as I believe that Suluk is a local community in Malaysia," he said.
Zaki said only Suluk people in Malaysia particularly in Sabah who have Malaysian ICs can be members of his NGO and not those from the Philippines who have no documents.
He denied that his NGO was an agent helping Suluks to gain Malaysian blue Ics.
Another witness, Andi Kadir Jailani who was formerly a secretary to the Sabah Bugis Welfare Association, likewise, denied that his association was involved in helping Bugis obtain Malaysian Ics.
He said the association is only open to Bugis who have Malaysian identity cards and not those who only have travel documents.
"We did hear a rumour that the association's name was used to apply for the Malaysian ICs but not the association's forms.
"At that time, the President Datuk Osman Jamal had instructed me to lodge a police report on the matter.
At the same time, 18 branches have been asked to ensure that the forms are not being abused for wrong reasons," he said.
Christina, who is a PKR supreme council member, defeated Parti Bersatu Sabah vice-president Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai for the Api-Api state seat in the recent polls.
Almost 28 per cernt of Sabahans are foreigners, with an estimated 889,000 from the Philippines and Indonesia.
The inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah, which began in January, has exposed how Filipinos and other foreigners received blue identity cards within several years after coming to the state which allowed them to vote.
