Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp), which broke away from the BN on Sept 17, wants a royal commission of inquiry to be immediately set up on the issue of identity cards in Sabah.

“We urge an immediate investigation into the actual process of distribution of MyKads to locals,” said Sapp Youth chief Edward Digul at a media briefing. “Appropriate action should also be taken against those involved in the syndication and distribution of MyKads to illegals.”

Sapp’s demand comes in the wake of the state National Registration Department (NRD) replacing the MyKad of a senior citizen, Yong Lee Hua @ Piang Lin, 78, a native, with a red permanent resident card.

Lee Hua had she lost her MyKad to a pick-pocket on Feb 12 last year at a supermarket in Penampang Baru, an outlying region of Kota Kinabalu.

sapp remove bn logo 200808 yong teck lee Party chief Yong Teck Lee listed the grounds for the royal commission:

1) to probe whether there are other cases of genuine Sabahans losing their Malaysian citizenships without the due process of law;

2) many foreigners were able to obtain citizenship documents whether through legal or dubious means. These new citizens have become not only Malaysians but Sabahans with the right of abode and employment in Sabah;

3) New citizens in Sabah have acquired rights that surpass that of other Malaysians in Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak. They can enter and remain in Sabah whereas other genuine Malaysians (from Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak) could still be subject to immigration controls and work passes; and

4) By joining Umno, many of these new citizens have also acquired political privileges and positions of influence in many districts. Some have even been successfully considered as bumiputera and can own native land and enjoy other rights and privileges that surpass millions of other Malaysian non-bumiputera.

‘It’s a violation of M’sia Agreement’

“Under the terms of the formation of Malaysia in 1963, entry into Sabah and Sarawak comes under the respective state governments. The spirit and intent of the Malaysia Agreement was to protect the Borneo states (Sabah and Sarawak),” pointed out Teck Lee.

“The only persons that the state authority cannot prohibit from entering are federal civil servants on official duties in the states concerned.”

Teck Lee added that “once foreigners have obtained the MyKad, they are no longer subject to immigration controls and become first-class citizens”.

Touching on senior citizen Lee Hua’s case, the Sapp chief reminded the state NRD that under the terms of the Malaysia Agreement, every resident of Sabah (British North Borneo) was automatically accepted as a citizen of Malaysia.

“By virtue of her being a Sabah native in 1963, it is clear that she qualifies as a Malaysian citizen,” said Teck Lee. “What the NRD has done to Yong (Lee Hua) is a breach of the Malaysia Agreement and could be taken to court.”

In a statement after her case became a controversy on Friday, NRD public relations officer Janisah Mohd Noor said that the department detected some "flaws" in the blue identity card of Lee Hua issued by the department in 1996, which prompted the issuance of a red identity card meant for permanent resident status instead.

The "flaws" were found out after scrutinising the documents of the holder. She did not elaborate. Sabah NRD would conduct a thorough investigation into the case and the complainant would be informed in due course, she said.

State NRD director Abdul Rahman Mohd Noor wasn’t immediately available for comment. He is said to be away in Kuala Lumpur.

Lee Hua herself was first told when she queried her red IC, also called the MyPR, that the “the NRD normally issues the MyPR to senior citizens who lose their MyKad.”

The trouble of losing one’s identity

Lee Hua’s troubles apparently began on Feb 12 last year when her wallet went missing from her handbag at a supermarket in Penampang Baru.

Also, lost along with her MyKad, was her driving licence, bank books, a gold necklace, RM500, a gold-plated pearl locket, two golden crosses and a set of car keys.

She made a police report the same day and re-applied for her MyKad on Feb 26 at the NRD office in Donggongon, the urban centre for Penampang.

She voted in the March 8 general elections this year using her driving licence. Luckily for her, her records at the Election Commission had not disappeared too.

To add to Lee Hua’s troubles, the Immigration Department told her that her data was no longer in the system, that she could not renew her expired Malaysian passport, and that it has been cancelled.

She was further advised that she could not even step outside Sabah with her red IC, not even to visit her son, who is with a bank in Kuala Lumpur. She had plans to visit Jakarta with her church group at the end of this month.

More troubles for Lee Hua as the wheels of bureaucracy swung into motion: her account with Alliance Bank has been frozen and she can’t withdraw her monies; frozen too is her Amanah Saham Nasional account.

She also holds native land in her name, which she won’t be able to pass on to her eight children.