PETALING JAYA: The claim that a Chinese national was given a MyKad is actually an old case from 2019, says Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
In a Facebook post, Saifuddin said a picture of the Chinese citizen’s passport as well as his fake MyKad and Malaysian driver’s licence had been circulating in WhatsApp groups.
“This case happened in 2019. (Perikatan Nasional chairman) Muhyiddin Yassin was home minister at the time, but I’m confident he wasn’t involved in this.
“The national registration department (JPN) officer involved has already been arrested, probed and is now being tried in court.
“The ‘MyKad holder’ was also deported to his home country.
“As usual, some people are attacking the government without checking the facts.
“They’re happy as long as they can play up racial sentiments and get some political mileage,” said the minister.
In August 2019, Chinese national Wang Dequn was caught with a Malaysian passport at the Penang International Airport.
Two months later, he told the High Court that he obtained a Malaysian passport after agreeing to pay RM400,000 for it. He also said he managed to get a MyKad and a driver’s licence for the money he paid.
The MyKad and driver’s licence bore the name “Ewe Chor Beng”.
Wang was testifying in the trial of JPN assistant director Faizul Arifin and five others charged with 32 counts of falsifying birth certificates and identity cards as part of a syndicate selling citizenships to Chinese nationals.
Wang was deported to China on Nov 13 after serving a three-month jail sentence.
Saifuddin said his statement regarding the presence of political patronage in the country’s illegal gambling activities was done following a briefing from the police.
Saifuddin said he was confident of his claims.
“They (police) know they will be grilled with a lot of questions first from me before I am questioned by members of parliament in the Dewan Rakyat.
“The police do have information on it. It is in their radar. Precise information enables us to take targeted action.
“But it is not information that we can publicly announced just like that. It will affect the job of the police as the intelligence unit.
“Let what I had said be suffice for now. Let the police devise their strategies first,” said Saifuddin at the ministry headquarters today when asked if there was any progress on the matter.
