18. Filipino refugee says got blue IC without applying for it

Filipino refugee says got blue IC without applying for it

http://my.news.yahoo.com/filipino-refugee-says-got-blue-ic-without-applying-052842903.html

By Boo Su-Lyn

KOTA KINABALU, Jan 17 — A Filipino refugee told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants here today that he had received a blue identity card without applying for it.

Ismail Balaka said he fled to Sabah in 1975 to escape the civil war in the Philippines.
“Did you obtain your identity card without going to the National Registration Department (NRD)?” asked conducting officer Jamil Aripin at the RCI here today.
“That’s correct,” said Ismail.
He added that he also registered as a voter and has voted five times in Sabah.
Ismail, a shipbuilding worker, said he is now staying at the Kinarut settlement in Sabah with his second Filipino wife and their four children, who all have blue identity cards too.
He added that his first wife, who is also from the Philippines, was taking care of their five children.
Ismail said he and some others were called one day to gather at their village hall, but did not specify when.
Some people, whom Ismail said he could not identify, told him and the other villagers to sign a form, give their fingerprints and have their picture taken.
“I heard that we would be given Malaysian identity cards. After three or five months, I received a blue identity card,” said Ismail, according to his statement to the police that Jamil read out.
Ismail, who wore a white shirt, added that he did not pay for the identity card.
He also said that he did not possess any documents before getting the blue identity card, such as the red or green identity card for permanent residence or temporary residence respectively.
He denied that he was given conditions or told how to vote before getting the blue identity card.
Former Sabah NRD assistant registrar Kee Dzulkifly Kee Abd Jalil testified yesterday that 100,000 blue identity cards were given to Filipino, Indonesian and Pakistani immigrants in Sabah in 1993.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister who was in power from 1981 to 2003, has been accused of spearheading the so-called “Project IC” in which citizenship was allegedly given to immigrants for their votes.
But former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh, who administered the state from 1976 to 1985, denied on Tuesday the existence of “Project IC”.
Ismail said today that he did not intend to return to the Philippines.
Another Filipino refugee called Hatta Ghani testified today that he received a blue identity card in 1990 after applying for it in 1988, but had never had a red identity card.
Hatta, a construction worker, also said that he registered as a voter immediately after getting the blue identity card.
“I voted once in Keningau and twice in Kawang,” said Hatta, who wore a white kopiah.
The inquiry before former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong resumes in the afternoon.

Updated version:

Refugee details fast track path to citizenship

• Nigel Aw

3:29PM Jan 17, 2013   http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/219219

A refugee from Philippines said he and many others were made Malaysian citizens without them pursuing it, the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on Sabah's immigration problem heard today.

Ismail Balaka said he received his identity card three months after a mysterious group visited his settlement in Kinarut to take down their particulars. He could not remember when it happened.

"A group of people came in an unmarked vehicle and gathered everyone at the village hall. It was during day time but I cannot remember the date and year.

"They asked us to fill forms, took our thumbprints and photographs. At that time I did not know what it was for but a friend said it was for identity cards," Ismail said.

Prior to receiving the identity card, he held a settlement card issued by the settlement unit of the Chief Minister's Department.

Ismail acknowledged that he had never had IMM13 (Pas Lawatan Pelarian), green identity card (temporary resident) or red identity card (permanent resident) before obtaining the blue identity card.

The chain is the pathway for a refugee's naturalisation as a Malaysian citizen.

Ismail arrived in Sabah on a fishing boat 1975 from Pulau Ubian, Philippines, fleeing the civil conflict there.
'Registered as voter'

Subsequently, the witness said, he registered as a voter and voted for the first time under the rule of then Chief Minister Harris Salleh, which was between 1976 and 1985. Since then, he has voted in five elections.

Ismail was one of seven refugees called to testify before the RCI today. Several of the refugees still hold red identity cards and IMM13 documents, but a handful who arrived in Sabah in the 1970s already have blue identity cards.

Another refugee with a blue identity card is Hatta Ghani, who arrived from the Philippines in 1976, by boat with more than 50 others.

Hatta followed the necessary procedures and eventually got his blue identity card 12 years later.

After, that, he too immediately registered as a voter.

"No one registered for me, I went to apply on my own," he said.

'Some are in the army'

One refugee from the same village, Abdul Ayung, who entered Sabah in 1980 and still relies on the IMM13 document, said a number of those who already have blue identity cards have joined the civil service to become teachers, and some even join the army.

Another person who testified today was United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) representative Paul Allen Vernon, who explained the body's cooperation with the Sabah government in settling Filipino refugees in the state between 1977 to 1987.

Quoting records, Vernon estimated that more than 60,000 refugees were settled in the state during that period.

He said it was important that the government provided the refugees with some form of documentation or a path a citizenship, as those without them were likely to have a worst prospect, on top of the problems the next generation would face.

"The Filipino Muslim population has been here for 28 to 34 years and their links with Mindanao are weak at best. It will be logical for them to have some kind of integration that is consistent with the immigration laws.

"If the children do not have documentation, they cannot go to school. Ten years down the line, we see a serious risk to the children, for if they do not get primary education, it will be hard to fix that.

"If they enter school only when they are 15 or 16, it will be difficult to acquire literacy, the consequences are serious," Vernon said.

A total of 24 witnesses took the stand during the fourth day of the inquiry today