Indian and Pakistan: Told how they got ICs

Indian man and a Pakistani man told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on immigrants and identity card issues that they obtained Malaysian citizenship between two and three years after arriving in Sabah.

Mohamed Hussein from Pakistan and Mohidin Batcha Sariff from India also disclosed that they surrendered their passports upon receiving the blue Malaysian identity cards.
The duo and another Indian national also told the RCI that the identity cards issued to them stated that they were born in Sabah, even though their places of birth were in Pakistan and India. Mohamed’s IC states that he was born in Tawau while Aziz’s given birthplace is Kunak and Mohidin’s IC states Beaufort as birthplace.

All three men are registered voters and have voted several times, with Mohamed and Aziz also holding Malaysian passports which they had obtained after obtaining their identity cards. Both have also made several trips home to their country of birth.

A total of 29 witnesses have testified before the RCI panel which is headed by former High Court Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Datuk Amar Steve Shim Lip Liong. It also comprises former UMS vice chancellor Datuk Kamaruzaman Ampon, former Sabah State Attorney Tan Sri Herman Luping, Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation deputy chairman and former Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Henry Chin Poy Wu and former State Secretary Datuk Kee Mustafa as Commissioners.

The hearing was adjourned yesterday until January 29.
The three witnesses, who were questioned by conducting Officer Jamil Ariffin, Sabah Law Association (SLA) representative Datuk John Sikayun, Dr Chong Eng Leong’s lawyer Datuk James Ghani and Ansari Abdullah, admitted to obtaining their Malaysian identity cards without having to submit any supporting documents with their applications.
Mohamed said he arrived from Pakistan in 1987 and obtained his Malaysian identity card in 1989 while Aziz said he arrived in late 1980s and also obtained his identity card in 1987.
Mohamed who admitted to being born in Pakistan in 1964 said he came to Sabah in early 1987 via Kuala Lumpur. He had traveled to Malaysia using a Pakistan passport.
According to Mohamed, he came to Sabah to seek a fortune and upon arriving here, he headed for Tawau where he got a job as a trader. He also told the panel that in 1988, he was approached by a fellow Pakistani and a few Malaysians who offered him a Malaysian identity card in exchange for his Pakistan passport.

During the course of questioning, he kept saying his memory was poor due to an accident in November last year.Mohamed agreed with Jamil that a few weeks after meeting the men, they took him to the National Registration Department (NRD) office in Tawau where they helped him fill in the application form as he was illiterate.

“You had your thumbprint taken and also paid the RM10 processing fee. Did you pay the group?” Jamil asked.“I was finger-printed, paid the RM10 and was issued with a receipt, but I did not pay the group,” Mohamed replied.

He said the identity card was issued to him in 1989 and he has since changed it to the MyKad without encountering any problems from NRD.
Replying to a question from Ansari, he said he voted for the first time in Papar but did not remember when, and that it was someone from NRD who suggested that he put Tawau as his place of birth when applying for the identity card.
Aziz said he traveled from India to Kuala Lumpur by air, then to Labuan FT and subsequently took a ferry to Sabah. He told the panel that while working at an Indian restaurant in the state capital, he and a few other workers were approached by a stranger who claimed to be a government officer and told them that he could help them in obtaining identity cards.


He said the man helped them fill in a form at the restaurant and told him to wait. The man came back four months later and handed him a blue Malaysian identity card, he said, adding that two of the workers there also got theirs.
Asked by Jamil whether the “officer” enquired about his passport, Aziz said: “Yes, but I told him that I had lost it.”

Mohidin, who is a former Sabah Muslim Indian Chamber of Commerce president, told the panel that in 1982 he went to the NRD office in Wisma Dang Bandang where he met a man named Mansor.

Mansor helped him fill in the form and although he did not submit any supporting documents, he obtained his identity card a year later. He also said he did not pay Mansor anything.
 
Mohidin denied the allegation by Sabahkini that he was one of those involved in issuing Malaysian identity cards to illegal immigrants from India.