Upko wants Registration Dept to rectify mistake

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Upko is threatening to review its position in the Barisan Nasional if the National Registration Department fails to rectify its mistake of making an elderly bumiputra citizen into a permanent resident.

Upko deputy president Datuk Wilfred Bumburing said that taking away the citizenship of a locally-born bumiputra and forcing them to take permanent resident status was a shocking display of incompetence from a department rigged with controversies.

“This action by the NRD infringes the basic rights of Malaysians in Sabah and if it is not rectified, Upko must seriously review its position in Barisan,” he said.

He said this in reaction to the dilemma of a 78-year-old Sino-Kadazan woman Yong Lee Hua @ Piang Lin who lost her identity card in May but NRD issued her a Red IC and asked her to apply for citizenship again.

“This to me is the last straw with the mess of NRD that is making locals foreigners and foreigners citizens,” said Bumburing who believes that a Royal Commission of Inquiry should be set up to investigate NRD’s alleged issuance of ICs to foreigners.

Yong, a resident of Penampang holding a native certificate issued in 1963, lost her original IC on Feb 12 and made an application for a replacement but was issued a Red IC a few months later with NRD officials saying that it was normal procedure. However, the mother of seven children went back to the NRD with prove of citizenship documents including her passport and driving licence.

To her shock, an official at the NRD office admitted that there might have been a mistake but advised her to apply for citizenship instead of rectifying it. Her bank accounts have since been frozen.

“There is something really wrong at the NRD. This is not the first case,” added Bumburing, whose party helped highlight Yong’s plight while reflecting on worries that citizens were losing their Malaysian status in a state where there are allegations that foreigners are getting Malaysian identity cards illegally.

Last year an 18-year-old local girl from Sandakan whose Malaysian identity card was issued to another person was asked by the NRD officers to obtain a new identity. Her plight was highlighted and she eventually got back her identity.

- The Star