148. RCI Sabah: For some Sabahans, MyKads are elusive

 http://borneoinsider.com/2013/07/03/rci-sabah-for-some-sabahans-mykads-are-elusive/

July, 3, 2013 - 6:34 pm

RCI Sabah: For some Sabahans, MyKads are elusive

KOTA KINABALU: While the royal commission of inquiry on Sabah’s immigration problems has heard many accounts of fast-track MyKads for foreigners, one bona fide Malaysian told the RCI of how difficult it was for her family to do the same.
Nancy Padin Salutan, 41, testified that her husband still doesn’t have a MyKad despite being from the same tribe and possessing a birth certificate.
However, her husband is recognised as a permanent resident.
The reasons for his predicament is uncertain, as Nancy broke down during this part of her testimony.
“All his siblings have blue identity card (but) he still cannot get his even though he has a birth certificate,” said Nancy, in between her sobs.
Nancy is of the Lundayeh ethnic group, residing in their ancestral home of Long Pasia, in the highland regions of Sipitang, bordering Lawas, Sarawak.
She explained that she only received her own birth certificate in 2001 and an identity card three months later. This was facilitated by a national registration department mobile registration unit and a mobile court.
“I did not register my birth before this because it will take a one-week walk to Sipitang town to do that and even by car will take four hours,” she said.
Custody problems
As a result of her late birth registration, Nancy said she registered two of her six children’s birth using her brother’s name who already had blue identity card, thus making the children citizens, but also legally making her brother their father.
Only her other four children were registered under her own name after she obtained an identity card after 2001, she said.
At this juncture, lawyer Ahmad Abdul Rahman, who is on watching brief for the Sabah Law Association, offered to help restore the legal status of her two eldest children to prevent inheritance problem in future.
Conducting officer Azmi Ariffin also promised to verify her husband’s status with the NRD.
Nancy added that many in her village had also yet to receive identity cards. – Malaysiakini