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Friday, 9 September 2011

NRD shields itself, blames outdated database again

The National Registration Department admitted that failure to update its database has resulted in another case where an apparently non-citizen is listed as a voter.

According a NRD spokesperson Jainisah Mohd Noor, 27-year-old Pandan voter Yusnati Haris Lakmana, who is listed as a holder of a temporary identity card on the NRD website, is in fact a citizen.

"We ran a check and found that she was granted citizenship in 2008," said the officer.

She said that Yusnati is still listed as a green IC holder on the website because the publicly-accessible database is not updated.

"We are still waiting for an explanation on this from the IT department," Jainisah added when contacted earlier this week.

When contacted another officer from the Election Commission who refused to be named also laid the blame on the NRD's outdated database.

mismah in sinar harian 140811 front page story imageThis was also the case for Mismah, who was listed as a permanent resident on the NRD website, but as a voter on the Election Commission website.

Mismah was initially listed as a red IC holder, which denotes the person as a "permanent resident" while a green IC means that he or she is a "temporary resident".
The NRD had within hours of Malaysiakini's checks changed her status to 'citizen', later clarifying that Mismah was a permanent resident for 29 years before being granted citizenship.

Green IC revived in 2008

The issuance of green ICs was terminated in January 2005, and revived by the Home Ministry in October, 2008.

In announcing it,then Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said that green IC are issued to those born in Malaysia and have Malaysian birth certificates, but cannot verify their parents' background.

Bernama had then reported that the cards, valid for five years, were to be issued from December 2008 to June 2009 to solve the problem of undocumented residents.

The national news agency reported that the operation's main targets are ethnic Indian residents living in border towns, particularly in Kelantan, 30,000 of whom were estimated to be without documents.

NONEAn answer in Parliament to Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar (left) in 2009 revealed that 8,616 green ICs had been issued to stateless persons as of Feb 25, 2009.

"30,056 holders of green ICs (issued prior to 2005) had yet to come to the NRD to renew the cards," current Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had said.

More 'Yusnatis' found?

Malaysiakini
ran checks on both the Election Commission and NRD websites and found that Yusnati is a voter in the Chempaka state constituency and Pandan parliamentary constituency.

Yesterday, PAS revealed three more cases like Yusnati's, where green card holders were found on the electoral roll.

The three cases found on rolls for Terengganu and Selangor, he said, are among many more found by the party.

The Islamic party claims of the cases of irregularities were spotted after the objections period.

PAS that one of the address of an individual who is listed as a Serdang voter is non-existent and that no one in the residential area knew such a person.

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