Locals, foreigners without ICs are the same

Former National Registration Department (NRD) Sabah Director Datuk Abdul Rauf bin Sani said there is no difference between illegal immigrants and communities in remote villagers in Sabah as both don't have identification documents.

The former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee, was the 15th witness at the public hearing held by the Royal Commission Inquiry (RCI) on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah said this here on Thursday.

He was arrested under the ISA in April 1996, detained for 60 days and was placed under restricted residence until November, 1996. He was accused of selling blue ICs for money, which he claimed the police failed to proof.

Rauf, who served the department from 1990 to 1992, said the illegals and the communities like in Ulu Pensiangan and Penampang had the same status, as both do not posses identification documents, including birth certificates.

"I am proud to say that I am the first NRD Director to walk for four hours to remote villages in Ulu Pensiangan like Sebanguli and Babantul and Terian and Sg Buayan in Penampang.

"Hence, I was motivated to help these communities and discovered the majority of the people in those villages have no single documents.

So, what is the difference between them and the foreign migrants here who had no documents as well.

"To me, both were qualified to be considered as foreigners with no documents," said Rauf who is currently a contract-based Chief Executive Officer of an agency in the Federal Finance Ministry.

Rauf said this when answering to Conducting Officer Datuk Azmi Ariffin who asked whether he issued Malaysian ICs to the Filipinos, Indonesians and Pakistanis.

He admitted issuing ICs to foreigners who had no supporting documents but as for 'IC Projek', he said he only heard about it.

The documentation process in Sabah was the worst because of the long distance from towns and interior villages which caused many people in Sabah to have no documents, he said.

"I met up with the then Chief Minister of Sabah, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan together with the State Secretary, at that time because I was motivated to help those people in the remote villages to get identification documents.

"Hence, I suggested to him (Pairin) to use Statutory Declaration (SD) verified by the Native Chiefs and headmen. However, Pairin insisted to use verification from the Magistrates and Commissioner of Oath, instead.

"I made such recommendation because I got my birth certificate from a headman in a village," he said, adding that the long distance caused inconveniences to the communities in remote villages to go to town and apply for the Ics.

RCI panel chairman Tan Sri Steve Shim asked Rauf who gave him the order to use SD to process the ICs. He answered that that there was no order issued but that it was a practice in Sabah for many years before 1990.

Azmi asked whether Rauf was aware that there was a government policy that ceased the use of SD in applying for the Malaysian ICs after 1987.

He replied that he was unaware of the existing policy.

To a question from lawyer, Datuk John Sikayun from the Sabah Law Association (SLA), Rauf agreed that there was a possibility of abusing the SD the foreigners who were issued with Ics.

One of the RCI panel members, Tan Sri Herman Luping also asked whether he could differentiate the foreigners and the communities based on the SD.

"I cannot distinguish those people living in the interior villages like in Ulu Pensiangan and the foreign migrants here who do not have documents Éunless I interview them one by one.

"Even based on their names, I cannot see the difference between them because even a name like Mustapha Harun may come from the Bajau or Suluk group and might also come from the Southern Philippines," Rauf said.

Sources: Daily Express

Good to provide them documents.

A REPRESENTATIVE from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Paul Allen Vernon, in his evidence, said the Sabah Government had invited the body to work together with the state over Filipino refugees in the state.

He said the UNHCR had been working together with the state from 1977 until 1987, and that the body still monitored and contacted the task force to get updates on refugee issues in Sabah.

The witness also said that it was important for the government to provide the refugees with some form of documentation or a path for citizenship to avoid problems with the next generation of refugees.

16K Temporaray Receipt IC issue...

Former National Registration Department (NRD) Sabah Deputy Director, Mohd Nasir Sugip disclosed that about 16,000 temporary IC receipts (JPN 1/9 and 1/11) were issued to increase the number of voters in the 1994 State election.

Nasir, also an ISA detainee, was the 10th witness who was called before the Royal Commission Inquiry (RCI) on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah.

Presently the Managing Director of a company, he said he served in the public sector from 1980 to 1995 but held the deputy director post here from 1992 to1994. The Sabah NRD Director, at that time, he said, was Ramli Kamaruddin.

Nasir, from Johor, was detained under ISA on May 30, 1995 and was sent to a detention centre in Kamunting, Perak until he was released on May 30, 1998.

He said police arrested him under the ISA for allegedly issuing Malaysian ICs through dubious means and not adhering to the law.

Nasir told the RCI panel that the JPN 1/9 were temporary IC receipts while the JPN 1/11 were missing or lost IC receipts. He added the names in those receipts were eligible to vote.

He said the targets for the receipts were men and women over 20 years old who were Indonesians and Filipinos to increase the number of Bumiputera voters in the election. He said these holders were identified from the West and East Coasts of the State.

Conducting Officer Datuk Azmi Ariffin had to refresh the memory of Nasir by reading out his statement taken by an Investigating Officer appointed by the RCI on Dec 14 last year in Kuala Lumpur.

"Based on the statement, Nasir said he started to get involved in the task on 1992 to 1993 (involving P3 which was the temporary IC receipts that were suspected obtained through dubious means and not used by NRD).

"The Election Commission (EC) Director at that time was Datuk Wan Ahmad who called a NRD staff from the citizenship division named Azmi Abdul Karim and handed over a list of over 16,000 names listed in the EC roll to benefit as Bumiputera Muslim voters.

"Subsequently, Azmi had highlighted the matter to Ramli the NRD Sabah Director at that time and I was called by Ramli for discussion in his office together with Azmi and another NRD staff whom I forgot the name.

"Ramli had informed the matter to Deputy Director-General of NRD Awang bin Yaakub who had also issued a written order to carry out the project," Azmi said when reading out the statement in the hearing.

He further read that Nasir together with Ramli, Azmi Abdul Karim and another officer had signed an order to execute the project.

"Ramli later ordered us to use the names (over 16,000) in the EC list and changed all the particulars in the receipts (JPN 1/9 and JPN 1/11) to have more Bumiputera voters in Sabah.

"After that I was verbally ordered to assign staff who could be trusted to do the tasks in Sandakan, Semporna, Lahad Datu and in other districts in an operation named as 'Ops Durian Buruk (spoilt durian)'," Azmi said based on Nasir's statement.

To a question by the Conducting Officer, Nasir said the Ops Durian Buruk involved a change of the date of birth, photos and IC numbers based on the names given by the EC.

He said the Deputy Director-General of NRD had ordered the change of the identities of the holders and they signed a pledge to carry out the order together with Ramli and Azmi Abdul Karim.

He said no rewards were given to him for executing the operation and he was uncertain whether the holders were given any reward.

On whether the holders of the receipts were distributed across the State seats, Nasir said 800 such receipt holders were despatched to an east coast seat.

To a question from RCI Chairman Tan Sri Steve Shim, Nasir said there is some kind of collaboration and cooperation between the EC and NRD on this kind of exercise.

I acted on my own and not on orders: Ex-Sabah NRD boss

FORMER Sabah JPN Director Datuk Abdul Rauf Sani refuted the allegation that he had acted, based on orders concerning the issuance of IC to Muslim refugees from the Philippines and Indonesia in the state.

H e, however, admitted he had, during his tenure as Sabah JPN Director in 1990, led a unit known as G17, which was responsible to manage the issuance of blue IC to immigrants.

Abdul Rauf, who was arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in April 1996, also told the commission that he knew and was aware of the issuance of the IC.

"I did it on my own. No one ordered me. As a government officer, all orders must be made in black and white," said Abdul Rauf, who is now a Chief Executive Officer of a government-linked company.

Asked why he was arrested under the ISA, Abdul Rauf said he was accused of being involved in the illegal issuance of blue ICs for money.

He said he was detained under the ISA for 60 days and later, under the restricted residence until November 1996.

On the claim made yesterday by a former Sabah JPN officer, who was also former ISA detainee, that 40,000 ICs were signed and issued to Philippine refugees monthly, Abdul Rauf said he was unsure.

"Maybe hundreds, maybe thousands, I have no record on that because they were managed by my officers," he said.

Sources: Daily Express

Ex-NRD Men: We Help Osu to win.

Another witness, Akob Damsah @ Yakop, who headed the NRD Tamparuli office until Jan. 8, 1996 told the panel that he was also included in the mission because he was authorised to sign at the back of the plastic blue ICs.

Former Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) Record Division Unit Head Asli Sidup responded in the affirmative when asked if he knew whether the holders of the JPN receipts indeed had cast their votes in the 1994 State Election.

He said that during that election he was stationed at one polling centre in a State Constituency in Papar to monitor the holders of about 200 JPN receipts casting their vote and that the winner who later became CM (Datuk Osu Sukam) won by 64 votes.

He said he was not given any "incentive" for doing the job.

Asli was released from ISA detention in 1997. His involvement began in the early 1990s until the day he was detained. He was called up by Rauf (ex-Sabah NRD Direetor) who directed him as well as three others including Asli to go to the house of the then Political Secretary to the Prime Minister in Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Aziz Shamshuddin.

Upon arrival, he said there were briefed about the "special task" by the ex-Pol Sec who was with another person who he did not recognise to issue blue ICs to immigrants in Sabah.

"Our duty was to sign the ICs É as a member of the public service we were subjected to the directive of our superior even though we knew it was wrong. We had to follow instructions," said Akob.

Confirming Asli's testimony, Akob said that based on the briefing the action was to increase the number of votes in Sabah.

"After that we just did our job and put our signature on the IC.

I can't remember how many but I estimated that within one month it was about 40,000," he said.

He also admitted that they were "blindly signing the documents."

Asked if they were given any incentive for doing the work, Akob said, "we were given assurance verbally that we would be protected against any legal action." The "work" was completed by another group before the ICs were sent to Petaling Jaya for the lamination process, he said.

To his knowledge, after processing of the ICs was completed they were taken back to Sabah and distributed to their supposed owners.

Asked if he knew if the applicants were authentic or not, he said he did not know because he never saw the application forms.

Most of the IC recipients were from the Philippines and Indonesia, he said, adding that he knew for a fact that they were eligible to vote.

"I was posted to various areas there the ICs were given out É we followed up to ensure the IC recipients are there and finally cast their votes," he said.

Sources: Daily Express

No Desire to return home!!!!!

Filipinos holding Permanent Residence (PR) status here told the RCI panel they no longer intend to return to their home country.

Jamil Manap, 64, from Pulau Pengutaraan, Philippines, who came to Sabah in 1978 and Mat Yusay Bingkai who arrived in 1972 from Tawi-Tawi, both have relatives already here.

Both also testified that they came to Sabah to flee the Moro and Marcos conflict in southern Philippines. Jamil said he landed in Sabah after jumping off a kumpit (cargo boat) near Kudat and swam ashore to Kg Baru Baru.

The boat was carrying dried coconuts from the Philippines heading to Labuan.

"I didn't bring any document, I ran away from there because I was afraid of the conflict É I did not support anybody so I ran," said Jamil.

From Kudat, he went to the Telipok Resettlement Scheme where he stayed with an Imam and began working as a construction labourer for 10 years using only a work pass as his identification document.

In 1999, he managed to apply for the IMM13 before applying for the entry pass from the Immigration Department in 2002 and eight years later obtained the MyPR (red IC).

"I am thankful that now I would not have to worry (about being arrested) anymore," he said, adding that his wife and his eldest child were also holding MyPR while his second child is still using the IMM13 document.

He also said he was comfortable living in Telipok.

"I don't want to go back to the Philippines," he said when asked if he had any intention to go back.

Jamil's command of Bahasa Melayu was still below par which was evident when he answered a question by Conducting Officer Jamil Aripin if he still has any "saudara mara" (relatives) in the Philippines.

"Marah? Tidak, saya tidak marah Filipin (angry? No I am not angry with the Philippines Government)".

When told the question was whether he had anymore relatives like brothers, sisters, parents or grandparents, he answered "yes there is one."

Before Jamil was released as witness, lawyer Ansari Abdullah who was representing Dr Chong Eng Leong asked if he knew many people from the Philippines who came to Sabah were staying in the Telipok Resettlement Scheme and whether some of the people there could vote.

"Yes (most are Filipinos) and they could be (able to vote)," he answered.

For Mat Yusay, 59, he obtained his MyPR in 2004 and so have all his six children who are currently working in factories in Peninsular Malaysia.

He had been staying in Lok Urai, Pulau Gaya, ever since he arrived in Sabah in 1972.

He also told the RCI panel that most of the people staying in Lok Urai now apart from locals were holders of MyPR, IMM13 and some even still holding the Kad Burung-Burung as well as illegal immigrants.

He chose to stay in Lok Urai because most of his relatives were there who had been staying there since colonial time.

"I am already old and most of my relatives are here," he said when asked if he has intentions to return to his home country.

When asked by RCI Chairman, Tan Sri Steve Shim, he said he came to Sabah in a boat with 30 others but he did not know the whereabouts of these people now.

He told Shim they landed at Sandakan and did not face any problem entering Sabah.

Sources: Daily Express