Several Sabahans have been mistakenly deported to Indonesia and the Philippines during last year's concerted crackdown by the authorities to rid the state of undocumented foreigners, said a human rights commissioner.

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) was told of instances where Sabahans were deported following their failure to produce identification papers of their nationality.

"They were sent back to Sabah after family members intervened and vouched for their nationality," Sabah-based Suhakam commissioner Simon Sipaun said when contacted yesterday.

"But since the matter was o­nly raised during our o­ngoing district-level dialogues in East Malaysia, no details are available as yet," he added.

Simon said the root cause of the confusion was the fact that quite a number of Sabahans were still without valid documentation papers, including birth certificates and identity cards.

"One man without any birth certificate or identity card was mistakenly sent to the Philippines until his family in Sabah had to vouch for him before he was sent back home.

"But we cannot blame the authorities because these individuals were unable to produce proof of citizenship," he said.

Another major foul-up involved the case of a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by police officers during her 'deportation'. She was later found to be a Malaysian and sent back to Sabah.

School woes

The commissioner said the National Registration Department has set up a mobile team to register those living in the hills of Sabah's interior.

"Having no valid documents poses a bigger problem for young children who are prevented from attending school because they have nothing to register with.

"Furthermore, the locals are very concerned over the ease with which foreigners seem able to obtain valid Malaysian identification documents," he added.

The dialogues, initiated in mid-2002, is part of Suhakam's effort to educate the Malaysian public o­n their basic rights, beginning with those who live in some of the remotest areas in Sabah and Sarawak who are geographically isolated from mainstream Malaysia.

Suhakam's complaints and inquiry working group chairperson Prof Mohd Hamdan Adnan who also led the dialogues had confirmed that he knew of o­ne or two such cases.

"We cannot gauge how big a problem it is but we will continue to talk to the enforcement authorities in Sabah to exercise care when arresting and deporting undocumented migrants."

Last July, the police found MyKad - Malaysia's latest high-security identity card - o­n a foreigner who produced it as proof of citizenship similar to that discovered during crackdown operations o­n undocumented migrants thoughout Sabah.

No comments were available from the state National Rregistration and Immigration Departments yesterday.

Customary honour

According to Sipaun, other issues commonly raised during the dialogues were customary land rights, lop-sided development throughout the state and the lack of basic infrastructure and public amenities such as water, roads and schools.

"The disparity in development is great between urban and remote areas, and the people are very concerned and unhappy with this situation."

On the customary land rights, Sipaun said the Orang Asal's main worry was about being displaced.

"We must remember that pre-Merdeka land dealings was a time-honoured practice throughout the generations.

"It is actually a conflict between customary practices and present rules and regulations," he said, adding that the 'outsiders' mentioned by the people were business interests applying for large tracts of customary land for commercial purposes such as logging and plantations.

"However, we need to gather more data from the ground before approaching the state authorities with the relevant recommendations," added Sipaun.

Out of a total 21 districts and nine sub-districts in Sabah, Suhakam has visited five districts and o­ne sub-district and plans to continue with the dialogue at an average of o­ne district per month.

Suhakam has held three workshops about Malaysia's indigenous communities in Miri (last July), Kota Kinabalu (October) and Kuala Lumpur (December).